


RPBY

by Gardegrimm



Category: RWBY
Genre: there are other ships but they aren't as involved as the tagged one(s), wolf faunas!Ruby
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-17
Updated: 2019-06-15
Packaged: 2019-06-28 12:51:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 47,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15707589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gardegrimm/pseuds/Gardegrimm
Summary: What if a RWBY au was written by the seat of its pants by someone that had no clue how it was going to end?That's basically this au.I'm trying the schedule my writing now, so chapters will, at most, be posted once or twice month.





	1. Ruby Rose

**Author's Note:**

> Just as a heads up, I am following this episode to episode. All two parters will be put into one chapter and any episodes that end up too short for my liking will just be attached to the episode before or after it depending on the what happens in it. Some scenes are removed, no real single reason, it just happens.

_Legends._  
_Stories scattered through time._  
_Mankind has grown quite fond of recounting the exploits of heroes and villains, forgetting so easily that we are remnants, byproducts, of a forgotten past._  
_Man, born from dust, was strong, wise, and resourceful._  
_But he was born into an unforgiving world._  
_An inevitable darkness, creatures of destruction._  
_The creatures of Grimm set their sights on man and all of his creations._  
_These forces clashed and it seemed the darkness was intent on returning man's brief existence to the void._  
_However, even the smallest spark of hope is enough to ignite change and in time, man's passion, resourcefulness and ingenuity led them to the tools that would help them even the odds._  
_This power was appropriately named, "Dust"._  
_Nature's wrath in hand, man lit their way through the darkness and in the shadow's absence, came strength, civilization and most importantly, life._  
_But even the most brilliant lights eventually flicker and die._  
_And when they are gone..._  
_darkness will return._  
_So, you may prepare your guardians..._  
_build your monuments to a so-called free world, but take heed,_  
_there will be no victory in strength._  
**_But perhaps victory is in the simpler things that you've long forgotten._**  
**_Things that require a smaller, more honest soul._**  
====  
Ruby stood in front of a magazine rack, reading one on weapons, her tail swishing a bit in interest. Her music blocking out the sounds of the robbery happening right behind her, on the other hand, it was a very quiet robbery.

One of the goons spotted her and scowled. He drew his sword and walked up to her, "Alright kid, put your hands up where I can see 'em."  
When Ruby didn't respond, he stepped closer, "Hey, I said hands in the air!" the goon forced Ruby around, moving her hood from her head, "You got a death wish or something!?"

Ruby looked at him, surprised and a bit confused. He pointed at his ear, and Ruby removed her headphones, "Yes?"

"I said, put your hands in the air, now!"

"Are you.. robbing me?" she asked, honestly a little humored.

"Yes!"

"Oh."

She then kicks him back, sending him crashing into some dust canisters, surprising Roman and the other henchmen. Another one of them charged for her, with his gun out, "Freeze!"

But she tackles him through the windows, scythe drawn. When she landed, she turned to the others, lodging her scythe blade into the road and shutting off her music.

The man in the bowler hat straightened a bit, "Okayyy..." he looked at his goons, then pointed at Ruby, "Get her!"

They charged at her, one swinging a sword at her, but she jumped over it. Doing a quick spin on her scythe, she kicked him in the face, and freed the blade as she landed. Just as the other goons started to surround her, she swung her scythe back, hitting one into the air and smashed another one into the road with the blunt end. Using the momentum of the scythe's rifle shots, she darted around the street, dodging the last henchman's gunfire, before charging at him and full force kicking him in the stomach.

The redhead looked at the fallen goons, disappointed, "You were worth every cent. Truly you were," he looked at Ruby and walked forward, snuffing his cigar out on the pavement, "Well, Red, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening, and as much as I'd love to stick around..."  
As aimed his cane at her and a crosshair sprung out of the bottom, "I'm afraid this is where we part ways."

Ruby jumped out of the way of his shot, and looked around for where he might have gone. As soon as she seen him climbing up an emergency ladder, she dashed after him. Once again using the force of her rifle, she lunged up the side of the building as Roman got to the other side of the roof.

"Hey!"

He sighed, "Persistent..."

Suddenly, a huge ass dropship flown up from the other side of the building and shined a light on the roof.

"How the heck did nobody notice that was there!?" Ruby shouted to nobody as he climbed into the ship.

He turned back and threw a Burn Dust shard at her, "End of the line, Red."

He shot the shard and it burst into a large orb of fire, luckily a blonde woman landed just in time to block it with a magic glyph. She corrected her glasses then swung her riding crop, sending several purple shards into the ship, knocking it back.

The man stumbled a bit as he headed for the pilot's seat, a woman in a red dress quickly ducked under him as he took the controls from her. She stepped into view of the two on the roof, just as the blonde summoned a hailstorm onto the ship. The woman in the ship threw a ball of fire at the Huntress, who blocked it with another glyph, then summoned a column of fire from the embers. She jumped back away from it, pushing Ruby back as well.

The Huntress raised the resulting debris and formed it into several tendrils that surrounded the dropship, knocking it around. The pyromancer summoned a huge burst of fire, destroying the tendrils.

As the ship started to turn, Ruby started shooting at her it, but the woman blocked them then summon more smaller fire columns. The Huntress pushed Ruby out of their ranged then front flipped away from the flames.

The ship quickly flew away. She turned to Ruby, annoyed.

"You're a Huntress!" Ruby said, tail wagging in excitement, "Can I have your autograph?"

Instead, she was questioned by the woman in an interrogation room at the nearby Police Station.

"I hope you realize that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly, young lady," the Huntress stated, pacing behind her, "You put yourself and others in great danger."

"They started it!" Ruby shouted.

She walked to the front of the table, "If it were up to me, you'd be sent home... With a pat on the back..."

Ruby smiled.

"And a slap on the wrist," she emphasized that by smacked the table with her crop, making Ruby jump, then she sighed, "But... there is someone here who would like to meet you."

At that, she stepped to the side as an old man walked in with a plate of cookies, "Ruby Rose..." he leaned forward a bit, "You... have silver eyes."

Ruby glanced around, "Um..."

He straightened, probably realizing how that was probably creepy, "So! Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"S-Signal Academy."

"They taught you to use one of the most peculiar weapons I've ever seen?"

Ruby smiled a little, "Well, one teacher in particular. My uncle, Qrow."

"I see..." he placed the cookies in front of her, then sat down.

Ruby carefully picked one up and ate it, "I was complete garbage before he took me under his wing. And now I'm all like-Hooowaaah!" she moved her arms to mimic kung fu, "Witchaaaa!"

"So I've noticed," he took a sip of his coffee, "And what is an adorable girl such as yourself doing at a school designed to train warriors?"

"Well... I want to be a Huntress," Ruby said, suddenly serious.

"You want to slay monsters?"

"Yeah! I only have two more years of training left at Signal! And then I'm going to apply to Beacon!" she smiled, her tail wagging faster as she continued, "You see, my sister's starting there this year, and she's trying to become a Huntress, and I'm trying to become a Huntress 'cause I wanna help people. My parents always taught us to help others, so I thought, 'Hey, I might as well make a career out of it!' I mean the police are alright, but Huntsmen and Huntresses are just so much more romantic and exciting and really, gosh, you know!"

The woman blinked, stilled annoyed, but now also confused.

"... Do you know who I am?" he asked.

"You're Professor Ozpin. You're the headmaster of Beacon."

He gave a small chuckle, "Hello."

"Nice to meet you."

"You want to come to my school?"

"More than anything."

Ozpin looked at the Huntress, who rolled her eyes, he smiled, "Well okay."  
====  
Yang pulled Ruby into a tight hug, "Oh, I can't believe my baby sister is going to Beacon with me!" she squeezed harder, "This is the best day ever!"

Ruby squirmed a bit, "Please stop."

Yang let her go and started bouncing in place, "But I'm so proud of you!"

Ruby took a deep breath, "Really, Sis, it was nothing."

"What do you mean? It was incredible!" Yang motioned to everyone on the ship, "Everyone at Beacon is going to think you're the bee's knees!"

"But I don't want to be the 'bee's knees', okay? I don't want to be any kind of knees!" she looked down, her tail tucked, "I want to be a normal girl with normal knees. Come to Beacon with my friends, like most other Hunters. I thought when he told me he was giving me a scholarship that he meant for when I applied after I finished at Signal. If I knew he meant immediately, I would've said no."

Yang frowned, "Aren't you excited though?"

"Of course I am! I just... Don't want people to think I'm special or something."

Yang stepped next to her and wrapped her arm around Ruby, "But you are special."

Suddenly, the news started playing on the holographic tv,{The robbery was led by nefarious criminal Roman Torchwick, who continues to evade authorities. If you have any information on his whereabouts, please contact the Vale Police Department. Back to you, Lisa.}

{Thank you, Cyril. In other news, this Saturday's Faunas Civil Right's protest turned dark when members of the White Fang disrupted the ceremony. The once peaceful organization has now disrupted-}

Suddenly, the Huntress from before interrupted the broadcast, {Hello, and welcome to Beacon!}

Yang looked at Ruby, who was still down.

{My name is Glynda Goodwitch. You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now, it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and training to protect our world.}

Once the hologram faded, everyone moved to look out the windows, admiring the view of Beacon Academy.

"Ruby?"

"How do you think Mom would feel about them now?" Ruby looked up, "Dad won't even let us go to the protests anymore, with how dangerous it is..."

Yang ruffled her hair a bit, "Sis.."

Suddenly, a blonde boy ran passed them, gagging violently.

"Well.. I guess the view isn't for everyone," Yang laughed.

"I hope he finds a bin.. or a bathroom. Otherwise it'll be bad for everyone today."

"I wonder who we're gonna meet."

"I just hope they're better than 'Vomit Boy'."


	2. The Shining Beacon

The ships docked on the Academy's edge, and students practically poured out.

The blonde boy was first, not to make a good first impression, but to vomit in the nearby trash bin. As expected, most of the students did their best to not get too close to him.

Ruby and Yang walked down the bridge and onto official Beacon grounds. The two marveled at the tall ivory towers that made up the school.

Yang crossed her arms, "The view from Vale's got nothing on this!"

Ruby instantly starting fawning over the other students' weapons, her tail wagging furiously, "Oh, oh, Sis! That kid has a collapsible staff!" she grabbed Yang's arm, "And she's got a fire sword!"

"Easy there, little sister," Yang shrugged, "They're just weapons."

"Just weapons?" Ruby asked, serious, "They're an extension of ourselves! They're a part of us!" she smiled brightly, "They're so cool!"

"Well why can't you swoon over your own weapon?" Yang asked, "Aren't you happy with it?"

"Of course I'm happy with Crescent Rose!" she said, holding said scythe affectionately, "I just really like seeing new ones. It's like meeting new people," she blushed a little, "But easier."

Yang tugged Ruby's cowl over her face, "Ruby, come on, why don't you go try and make some new friends? I'll help you, if you'd like."

Ruby pushed her hood back, "That'd be nice."

"Alright! Operation Friendship is- Whoa!"

Suddenly, a group of people, who are Yang's friends don't worry, grabbed Yang and started carrying her away, despite her protests.

"W-Wait!" Ruby called out, then sighed.

Before Ruby could even start walking, something ran into her, making her yelp as suitcases fell out of it.

"What are you doing!?" someone shouted, stepping from behind the luggage cart.

Ruby looked at them, to confused to properly recognize the platinum hair or overall white color scheme, "Uh... Sorry."

"Sorry?" the girl shouted, pointing accusingly at her, "Do you have any idea of the damage you could've caused?"

Ruby handed her a suitcase, still confused.

The girl yanked it from her, "Gimme that!" she opened it, "This is Dust mined and purified from the Schnee Quarry."

Ruby blinked, getting up, "Uh.."

"What are you, brain dead?" she looked Ruby over and noticed her tail, "Ugh, no, you're a faunas. You probably don't even understand what Dust is then."

"Excuse me?" Ruby asked.

The girl took out a bottle of Burn Dust, and started shaking it around as she spoke, getting Dust everywhere, "Fire, Water, Lightning, energy!"

Ruby started choking on the Dust cloud, trying to wave it out of her face.

"Are you even listening to me?" she got in her face, "Is any of this sinking in?" she shook the bottle at Ruby's face, "What do you have to say for yourself!?"

Ruby then made the mistake of inhaling through her nose, thus prompting an explosive sneeze, sending Dust everywhere. The vial the girl was holding was sent flying, landing on the pathway tiles and rolling up to someone's foot.

This someone turned out to be Blake Belladonna, someone Ruby knew from her mother's time in the Fang, reading and walking at the same time. She picked up the bottle and looked at the logo, then at the girls.

"Unbelievable!" the girl shouted, covered in soot, "This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about!"

"You were the one waving the Dust directly in my face, Princess!"

"It's Heiress, actually," Blake said, finally walking over, "Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world."

"Finally, some recognition!" Weiss said, smug.

"Hey, Blake," Ruby smiled.

"Surprised to see you here, Ruby," Blake smiled back, "A good surprise though."

"Oh, great, you two know each other," Weiss grimaced.

"My parents... were friends of her mother, we spent a lot of our childhood together."

She rolled her eyes, "Well.. at least one of you has some brains. I expect this mongrel will be thrown out within a week."

"Wolf," Ruby mumbled.

"And I expect you to be crying home to your daddy when you eventually brake a nail," Blake smiled, "Princess."

"What-How dare-! The nerve of-!"

Ruby chuckled to herself, as Weiss snatched the bottle from Blake and stormed off, leaving her mess to be cleaned up by her servants.

Ruby looked over at Blake, "Thanks for that."

"Anything for a friend, you know?" she glanced down, "Speaking of.. Could you.. Not tell anyone what or who I am for a while? For.. personal reasons.."

"Oh, yeah, totally. I'll make sure Yang knows too," she scratched her neck, "But is everything okay?"

"Maybe later," she looked around, "Never know who's around."

"Alright" she scratched her neck," ... Mind if we walk together? It'd be nice to go in with someone familiar."

Blake tilted her head a bit, but then nodded, "Alright, come on, I think the Welcoming Ceremony will start soon."  
====  
The two walked into the auditorium, which was already getting crowded with new students. Blake looked around, "Do you see Yang? Or anyone familiar?"

Ruby frowned as she looked over the other half of the room, "No, ugh. There's too many people," she sighed, "Couldn't I have, I don't know, met a cute girl on my first day or something?"

Blake chuckled, "Well.. Maybe if we start calling for Yang like lost children, we'll get someone cute's pity?"

Ruby shrugged, "Better than nothing."

A redheaded girl watched them walk away, curious, as they took to a direction and started calling.

Sadly, someone bumped into Ruby, and it wasn't Yang.

"You!" Weiss shouted.

"Oh no, not you again!" Ruby cried out.

Ozpin then started his introduction, "I'll keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge.-"

"Why don't you ever watch where you're going you-"

"-you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people."

"My Dad willingly had me," Ruby stomped her feet, "You take that back, you huffy little-"

"-wasted energy in need of purpose, direction."

Blake held Ruby, who was snarling, back, "Ruby, please, she's not worth it!"

"Oh, like she'd even listen to you, faunas are known to be-"

"-can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

Glynda stepped up to the microphone as Ozpin walked off stage, "You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed!"

The three looked up, surprised.

"Oh, great, you made me miss the introduction!" Weiss shouted, "He might of said something helpful."

Ruby glared at her, then straightened, "Well, at least we know where to go next."  
====  
That night, all the new students camped out in the ballroom, as they were told. Ruby sat against the wall next to Blake, writing in a little notebook, with an box of envelopes and stamps next to it.

Blake looked over the room, seeing Yang rough house with a few of her friends, "Oh, there's Yang."

Ruby glanced up, "Should we call her?"

"Do you want to?"

She looked back at her notebook, "Nah, I was going to bed as soon as I finish this."

Blake tilted her head, her bow twitched, "Finish what?"

"A letter to the gang back at Signal," Ruby said, she chuckled, "I'd never hear the end of it from Cassandra if I didn't keep my promise."

Blake raised an eyebrow, "Couldn't you just call them or something?"

"Nope, ironically, the signal at Signal is pretty terrible."

Blake laughed, "I always wondered why we never just called you guys..."

Ruby glanced at Blake's book, then back at her, "You still read a lot?"

"Oh?" Blake glanced at the book then back to her, "Mostly fantasy and... Stuff."

"We used to read those sorts books like that together all the time, remember?" she tail swished a bit.

"Otherwise we'd get in trouble somehow."

Ruby smiled, "Like that one time Yang dared us to climb a tree and had to get your dad to get us down?"

"You wouldn't let me go for like an hour."

The two chuckled, Ruby closed her notebook and put it down as they continued to talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so glad I have spell check because I can't spell to save my life. >:V
> 
> Edit: Still not sure how to bring up what type of faunas Ruby is in story, so here's this for now.


	3. The First Step

That morning in the locker room, everyone was organizing their gear.

Ruby hooked her holster around her waist, humming to herself.

Yang looked over at her, sliding her arms into her gauntlets, "So! You seem awfully chipper this morning."

Ruby chuckled, "Yep! Catching up with Blake last night helped my nerves a lot, " she pulled Crescent Rose out of her locker, tail wagging furiously, "Buut there won't be any awkward small talk today. Today I get to let my sweetheart do the talking."

"Well, remember Ruby, you're not the only one going though initiation," she said, crossing her arms, "I hope you'll be careful. Not everyone will be nice to you."

Ruby rolled her eyes, "You sound like Dad, you know?" she snapped her weapon in the holster on her back.

"I just hope you end up teaming up with good people," Yang said, "Cause I'm not sure you can change who you're paired with."

Ruby grumbled to herself.

Yang smiled softly at her, "How about I try getting on the same team as you? So I can beat the jerk out of them!"

Ruby turned back, "I.. No, Yang, you can beat the jerk out of people. It'll only make them bigger jerks when you're not looking."

Suddenly, Vomit Boy walked between them, looking at a sheet of paper, "Ridiculous! There's no way I put my gear in locker 636 yesterday!?" he looked around, panicked, "I would've remembered having to count that high! Ugh, why does this have to happen today!?"

He passed by Weiss and the redheaded girl as they geared up.

"So, Pyrrha, have you given any thought to whose team you would like to be on?" Weiss asked, "I'm sure everyone must be eager to unite with such a strong, well known individual, such as yourself."

Pyrrha looked up for a moment in thought, "Hmm... I'm not quite sure. I was planning on letting the chips fall where they may."

The heiress smiled, "Well, I was thinking maybe we could be on a team together."

Pyrrha laughed, "Well that sounds grand!"

"Great! I hope to see you then!" she turned, her smile now devious, _This will be perfect! The smartest girl in class combined with the strongest girl in class. Together we will be unstoppable! I can see it now: We'll be popular, we'll be celebrities, we'll get perfect grades! Nothing could come between us now!_

Vomit Boy stepped behind her, grinning, "You know what else is great? Me, Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you."

"..." Weiss crossed her arms, "Weiss Schnee."

Pyrrha jumped between them, smiling, "Nice to meet you, Jaune!"

Jaune pushed her away, "Yeah, yeah. So, Weiss!" he flexed his arm.

Weiss covered her face, "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

Pyrrha frowned, stepping back from him, she turned and walked into Ruby, "Oh! I'm sorry."

Ruby looked up at her, suddenly in awe.

"Oh, you're that girl from the introduction," she smiled, "How are you?"

"You're.. Pyrrha Nikos.."

She glanced at the floor a bit, "Ah.. yes.. I figured more people would recognize me from-"

"Could I see Milo and Akouo!?" Ruby asked, tail wagging furiously.

Pyrrha blinked, "Oh, sure..?" she pulled the shield and spear from her back, then handed them over.

Weiss looked passed Jaune, surprised as Ruby rambled off as she bounced around with Pyrrha's weapons.

"-and making it a Shift Rifle? So cool!"

Yang laughed, "You're biased."

"Excuse me, what's going on?" Weiss asked, having pushed passed Jaune.

"Ruby is talking about how amazing she thinks my weapons are," Pyrrha said, her arms crossed.

"You're in front of the probably the best fighter of our generation and you'd rather talk about her weapons?" Weiss asked.

"Well, she wouldn't be the best without them," Ruby said, "Anyone could've taken her place if she used a different weapon. Same as anyone else."

"She graduated top of her class at Sanctum."

"Tons of people graduate at the top of their class."

"Ah! She's won the Mistral Regional Tournament 4 years in a row... A new record!"

"Anyone could do that with enough work."

Weiss flailed her arms, "She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box!"

"Yeah, I know. I have the limited edition Pumpkin Pyrrha hoodie."

Jaune jumped in, "The limited edition what now?"

Ruby quickly handed Pyrrha her weapons back and darted for her locker, pulling out a red hoodie with orange cuffs, the rabbit on the chest was the original gray but with Pyrrha's crown on its head, "It was the prize for the celebration of Pyrrha's 4th Tournament win! We had to get, like, 200 box tops from the special Pumpkin Pete's that had Pyrrha on them."

Jaune gasped, looking at Pyrrha, "That's you? They only do that for star athletes and cartoon characters!"

Pyrrha smiled, "Yeah, it was pretty cool. Sadly, the cereal isn't very good for you."

"Luckily, you don't have to actually eat it to turn in the box tops, " Ruby folded the hoodie and slid it back into her locker.

Just then, the intercom turned on, {Would all first year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation? Again, all first year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately.}

Jaune scrambled as everyone started for the door, "Wait! I still haven't found my locker!"

"To your left, you dolt," Weiss snapped as she went through the door.

Jaune turned, "Oh."  
====  
A few minutes later, outside on a cliff, several students stood on metal platforms in front of Ozpin and Glynda.

"For years you have trained to become warriors. And today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest," Ozpin announced.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams," Glynda continued, "Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... Today."

Ruby frowned, "What? Aw.."

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well," Ozpin said, he took a sip of his coffee, "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next 4 years."

"What?!?" Yang snapped, eyes flaring red.

Someone called out, "See? I told you."

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way," Ozpin continued, "Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die."

Jaune laughed, nervously.

"You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation. But our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one, and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

Jaune raised his hand, "Yeah, um.. sir?"

"Good! Now, take your positions."

Glynda glared at the headmaster, "Every year..."

"Um, sir, I have a question," Jaune said, as Weiss was catapulted into the air by the platform, "This landing strategy thing, uh, w-what is it? You're, like, dropping us off or something?"

"No. You will be falling."

"Oh, I see. So, like, did you hand out parachutes for us?"

"No. You will be using your own landing strategy."

"Uhhuh... Yeah," he looked over a watched someone in armor get catapulted.

Yang looked at Ruby, worried, before getting shot into the air, Ruby soon followed.

"So, um, what exactly is a landing strateg-" he was then shot into air, screaming.

Ruby fell threw the air, as she got closer to the trees, she shot her rifle ahead of her the force slowing her down a bit. She twisted around, shifting the gun into a scythe and hooking onto a tree, and swinging around it before throwing herself forward through the trees. The sound of distant explosions and breaking trees gave her a vague idea of where some people were.

"Thank you!" someone, probably Jaune, called out from her left.

"I'm sorry!" someone else shouted from her right.

Ruby hit the ground and dashed forward with incredible speed, looking around, a little panicked, _Ugh, this is bad. Is there anyone I might want to team up with? Yang? Yeah, we get each other and we'd make a good team. But she might beat someone up for being mean and get expelled, don't want that. Jaune? He seems alright, though.. he probably couldn't hold his own in a fight.. Oh! What about Blake? She's cool, and we know each other! Then again, she is the stealthy type and I'm not, I might just be a bother.. Okay, who else do I know here?_  
Suddenly, she spotted Weiss walking ahead of her, she quickly turned to the right to avoid her, _No._

Lost in thought, she ran directly into someone, knocking them both to the ground. She moved to look at them, "I'm sorry! Are you okay?"

Pyrrha laughed, sitting up, "I'm fine! I've had worse."

Ruby jumped up and offered to help her to her feet, "So I guess we're partners now."

Pyrrha took her hand and brought herself to her feet, "I look forward to it."

Ruby looked behind the redhead, "Hey, where's Milo?"

"I used it to pin Jaune to a tree so he wouldn't fall and get hurt," she pointed ahead of her, "He landed this way."

"Wow, you must have some crazy good aim!" Ruby said, following her.

The pair walked through some bushes and found Jaune, struggling to get the spear out of his hood.

"Oh, hey, Pyrrha! You come to get me down?" Jaune called down.

"Yes, just hold on!" Pyrrha raised her hands and they were quickly enveloped in a dark energy which extended to the spear.

It careful freed itself from the tree and Pyrrha moved to slowly lower him to the ground. Once he was safely on his feet, Pyrrha took her spear and gave him a pat on the back.

"So now what?" he asked, "I follow you?"

"I think you should find your own partner first, before going further into the woods."

He slumped over a bit.

"We'll see you two later," Pyrrha said, "I promise."

"Yeah.." he mumbled as the two walked into the woods. After a moment he looked around, then walked into the brush, "Hello? Anyone here?"

"How long before he finds somebody?" Ruby asked.

"Are you serious!?" Weiss shouted from behind them.

"Thirty seconds, it seems," Pyrrha smiled.


	4. The Emerald Forest

Yang walked through the forest, looking around, "Helloooooooo? Is anyone out there?" she threw her hands up, "I'm getting bored here."

Something in the bushes moved, getting Yang's attention, "Is someone there?"

An Ursa Grimm rose from the bushes, snarling, and changed for her. She rolled to the side, dodging both the first Ursa and the second that followed it. One of them charged her again and she punched it in the gut, knocking it back with a burst of fire. The second one lunged for her and she shot it down with another punch, but also kicked it because it she felt like it.

They got back up, and one swung its claws at her. Yang backflipped out of range.

She laughed, "Geez you two couldn't hit the board side of a barn!" she stretched her arms back, "Here's how it's done."

She lunged forward in a burst of flames and smashed her fist into one of the Ursa, cracking its mask open then twisted around with her arm still in the rapidly dissolving Ursa and kicked the other one into the trees with extreme force, impaling it on a fallen tree log.

The two Ursa dispersed into smoke, leaving some of their fangs behind. Yang picked up the bundle of them, "Neat, an easy 50."

Blake dropped down and picked up the claws near the tree, "70, actually, that one dropped 2. Here."

Yang smiled, taking them and stuck them in her bounty pack on her hip, "Thanks, Blake."

"So... Any idea which way is north?"

Meanwhile, west of them, Pyrrha and Ruby were fighting a pack of Beowolves. Pyrrha got knocked back by one of them, but only a few inches, and shot it in the face from behind her shield.

Ruby charged through the Grimm starting to gang up behind Pyrrha, her scythe in a sort of spear form. Stumbled a bit at the end, clearly tired, "Pyrrha, they just keep coming!"

Pyrrha jumped back as another Beowolf lunged for her, she looked around. Several more of the grimm were coming through into view.

She looked at Ruby, "Do you have enough Aura to use your Semblance?"

"Yeah, why?"

Pyrrha pulled out a bottle of Burn Dust, "We need to start a fire. Preferably a wall of it."

Ruby nodded and dashed around the clearing, whipping up leaves and rose petals, the force of wind keeping the Beowolves back. Pyrrha opened the bottle and threw it into the wall of petals, which quickly ignited from Ruby's Aura use.

Ruby jumped into the center with Pyrrha causing the wall of fire to burst out, lighting several Grimm and trees on fire. The Beowolves dispersed, crying out in pain as the fire mixed with their dissolving smog.

The two charged through an opening in the trees before the fire flooded the area. Once they were far enough from the burning, Pyrrha looked at Ruby, who seemed wore out, "Are you okay?"

Ruby looked up, "Yeah.. I'm fine!" she straightened up, "Just.. not used to running without my Semblance!"

"Do you need a minute? We can-"

A giant black feather descended to the ground behind them, grabbing both girls' attention.

"Oh, that's not good, "Ruby straightened, "No time to sit around, I think that fire made something big angry."

Pyrrha nodded and the two ran forward once more.

Some distance southeast of them, Weiss trudged through the bushes, Jaune hot on her trail. Suddenly, there was a loud burst in the distance, like fireworks.

"Did you hear that?" Jaune asked.

"An explosion, someone must have found the Grimm, "Weiss pushed a branch out of her way, once she let it go it smacked him in the face.

He fell back, and held his face.

"Oh, stop whining," Weiss said, helping him up, "You're Aura absorbed-" she noticed the cut, "Is your Aura not unlocked?"

"My what?"

Weiss covered her face, with both hands, and sighed hard, "The manifestation of the soul! The thing that protects you from damage and heals your wounds!"

"Uhhh, nope! That is.. not unlocked!"

Weiss threw her hands down, "How did you get into Beacon without an Aura?!?"

"I... Umm.."

The heiress rolled her eyes, "Whatever, I'll unlock it! I can't have you dying under my watch. I have a name to uphold, "she placed her hands on Jaune's shoulders, "Close your eyes and try to focus."

"O-Okay," Jaune said, doing as told.

Weiss focused on his face, the both of them faintly glowing for a minute, until his cut quickly healed. The heiress dropped her arms, and slumped over a bit.  
 "Weiss?"

"I had to use my Aura to unlock yours," she straightened, "Good news, you have a lot of it, so you shouldn't die unless you're really stupid. Bad news?"

"What?"

"I'm pretty sure you are that stupid," Weiss said, continuing through the bushes.

"Oh..." he followed, kind of sad.  
====  
Glynda walked up to Ozpin, hold a black scroll, "Our last pair has been formed, sir," she tapped the screen, showing a distant shot of two students, "Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren."  
She frowned, "An odd pair. I couldn't possibly imagine how those two get along, but Ren was adamant about not getting sent to a different school in his papers," she tapped the screen again, "Still, they're probably better off than Ms. Schnee."

Ozpin looked at her, surprised, "Ms. Schnee? Why would that be? Ruby is a very talented girl."

Glynda seemed confused, "Rose is paired up with Ms. Nikos, sir... Why did you assume she was with Ms. Schnee?"

Ozpin looked over the cliff, a serious look on his face, "Hmmm.."

"At any rate, with everyone's current pace, they'll reach the temple in a few minutes," she looked at the forest, "Speaking of which, is there any reason you chose the relics you did this year?"

He was silent, with a puzzled look on his face.  
====  
Blake and Yang walked through the trees, into a clearing. An old, crumbling ruin stood before them, a ring of pillars inside.

"Think this is it?" Yang asked.

Blake glanced at her before walking up to it, Yang followed. Looking at the relics, they were clearly large chess pieces, about the size of a baseball, half in black and the other in a gold color.

"Some of them are missing, "Yang said, looking over the pillars, "Looks like we weren't the first ones here."

"Well... I guess we should pick one," Blake said.

Yang looked over a nearby piece, the gold knight, and picked it up, "How about a cute little pony?"

Blake rolled her eyes, but smiled, "Sure."

The two walked to the center of the ruins, Yang put her hands on her hips, "That wasn't too hard."

"Well, it's not like this place is very difficult to find."

Something snapped a twig in the woods, grabbing the pair's attention. Luckily, it was just Ruby and Pyrrha walking into the clearing, they waved once they noticed them.

"Ooh, Pyrrha Nikos? Nice," Yang said, patting Ruby's back.

"Yeah. I just ran into her.." Ruby laughed, lacing her fingers, ".. Literally."

"Ouch," Yang looked at Pyrrha, "You okay? I mean, I've been tackled by her plenty before, so I know it can hurt."

"It's was nothing..." she smiled a little, shrugging.

Ruby looked up from her hands and the ruin, "Is this it?"

"Yeah, it's the chess pieces," Blake said, "And some are missing, meaning we aren't the first ones here."

Ruby walked into the ruin, looking over the pieces. After a short moment, she picked up the black knight, then held it up for Pyrrha to see.

Then a loud boom came from the trees and everyone turned to see an Ursa, roaring and flailing its arms. It fell limp and over, dispersing into smog, with a short ginger haired girl on its back. She rolled off it once it hit the ground and looked behind her, "Oh no, it's broken."

A boy with long black hair stumbled up to the girl, out of breath, he had two King Taiju fangs strapped to his back, "Nora! Please... Don't ever do that again."

She looked at the group ahead of them and darted into the ruins, quickly picking up the golden rook, "I'm queen of the castle~ I'm queen of the castle~"

"NORA!" the boy shouted.

She giggled, saluting, "Coming, Ren!"

Blake looked over to the others, who all shrugged. And, finally, Weiss and Jaune came through the trees. He seemed really out of shape, or at least like he's been hit with several branches and thorn bushes.

Weiss sneered, seeing everyone else, she marched passed the group and snatched the black rook, "I can't believe we're the last ones here," she looked over at Pyrrha, "Who are you paired with, Pyrrha? If you don't mind me asking."

Ruby raised her hand, tail twitching lightly.

Weiss glared, "Of course..."

Suddenly, there was a loud screeching from behind the group.

"Okay!" Yang called out, "Let's get the heck out of here before whatever that is shows itself!"

Jaune groaned as everyone started running back into the woods towards the cliff they were launched from, "Can't we take, I don't know, five minutes?"

The creature screeched again, now closer, giving him a surge of adrenaline to run after them.  
====  
"Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark," Ozpin listed, "The four of you retrieved the bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team Cardinal[CRDL]. Lead by Cardin Winchester."

The four stepped off stage to the applause of the crowd.

"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Nora Valkyrie.. Weiss Schnee.." he watched the group walk up to him, giving Weiss a look she couldn't name, "The four of you retrieved the rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team Junior[JNWR]."

Nora jumped onto Ren, hugging him and laughing a little.

"Lead by Jaune Arc," he continued.

Both Jaune and Weiss looked two different sorts of confused, "Huh?"

Weiss grit her teeth, glaring at the blonde from the corner of her eye as they walked off stage.

"And finally: Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Pyrrha Nikos. Yang Xiao Long," he called as they walked onto the stage, "The four of you retrieved the knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team Ruby[RPBY]. Lead by Ruby Rose."

The four looked at him, rather confused, as the crowd cheered louder.

"Looks like things are shaping up to be an.." he looked over the four, "interesting year."  
====  
Later that night, in a warehouse, Roman looked over a map of the Beacon area. He crossed out a spot as a man in a mask pushed a crate up to him. He looked behind him and handed him several cards, "Open it."

The man picked up a crossbar and pried it open, dropping the cover on the floor. Roman looked over the stash of Dust crystals, "We're gonna need more men."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided that the grimm would drop various amounts of their spikes and such, which could be sold as a bounty and used as proof that the Hunters actually do their jobs. This like small fangs and shards cost the least(10 lien each), and complete masks costing the most(1,000-10,000 lien depending on the type of grimm). Most grimm don't drop a complete mask, as Hunters tend to break them in a fight.


	5. The Badge and The Burden

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Even if the episode title has nothing to do with what happens in the story, I'm not changing them so it's easier to keep track of where I'm at.

Early in the morning, Team RPBY walked down the hall, with Ruby leading with a schedule in hand.

"Alright, Ozpin said teammates all have their first class together," she started, "Grimmology 3 with Prof. Port at 9am to 10am," she turned the schedule over, "And on Saturdays everyone has Combat Testing from 9:30am to 11:30, then we have the rest off the day free if we pass! We also have lunch at 12 everyday for an hour!"

Blake stretching her arms, yawning, "Did we really have to get up almost 3 hours early?"

"Yes! Breakfast starts at 6 and I want everyone to get a good meal in!" Ruby skipped a bit, "It'll get you guys motivated for the day!"

"Well," Pyrrha smiled, her attention more on Ruby's wagging tail, "consider me already motivated."

Yang glanced at her, eyebrow quirked.  
====  
Prof. Port stood at the front of his class, "Monsters! Demons... Prowlers of the night. Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names."

Ruby had her head resting on her hand, pencil held to start writing at any moment.

"But I, merely refer to them as prey," he laughed, seeing nobody responding, he continued, a little awkwardly, "Uhh, and you shall too, upon graduating from this prestigious academy."  
He started walking across the desks, "Now, Vale, as well as the other _four_ kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world. Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces. And that's where we come in... Huntsmen! Huntresses.." he clicked his tongue, raising an eyebrow at Yang.

Several weapons were suddenly loaded.

Port straightened, "Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves!" he laughed, a little scared, "But before you do that, a story!"

Everyone quickly stopped paying attention, putting down their pencils. Pyrrha looked over to Ruby, who was drawing. After a moment, she raised it a bit for her to see it was a crude pig with Port's facial hair. She giggled, which made Ruby a little pink in the face, her tail hitting her seat with hard _thunks_.

Port cleared his throat, startling the two, "In the end the beowolf was no match for my sheer tenacity. And I returned to my village with the beast in captivity and my head held high. Celebrated, as a hero," he bowed, "The moral of this story? A true huntsman must be honorable. A true huntsman must be dependable."

"Hey, Weiss, did you bring an extra pencil? I left mine," Jaune whispered.

"A true huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise!"

"I also lost my textbook on the ship, could we share?"

Weiss glared at him.

"So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"

Weiss shot her hand up, "I do, sir!"

"Well then, let's find out!" he walked towards the supply closet and dragged out a cage with a snarling beast inside it, "Step forward, and face your opponent."

She got up, her rapier in hand. Jaune reached out at her as she walked to the front of the class.

"Yeah, represent team Junior!" he yelled.

 "Jaune, I'm trying to focus."

"S-Sorry."

"Alright. Let the match, begin!" he shouted, unlocking the cage. A boarbotusk immediately charged for Weiss, she jumped to the side, slicing at its side. She dashed for it, set to pierce its mask, but the Grimm raised its head hitting her hand and lodging the tip into the side of its tusk, pulling her in the air for a moment. It jumped and twisted as Weiss fought to free her sword, but it quickly won and tossed the rapier to the side. It rammed into her, knocking her back and onto the floor.

"Haha, eat it."  
"Shh."

The beast charged again and Weiss rolled out of the way, then rushed for her sword. She slid forward, grabbing it by the hilt.

"Weiss, stab it in the stomach! It has no armor there!" Ren shouted.

"Don't tell me what to do!" She yelled.

He sat back, "Watch out."

Weiss turned just as the Grimm threw itself forward once again, but in a spinning dash. She summoned a pair of glyphs and it crashed into the one in front of her, falling on its back, then she jumped onto the second and launched herself into it, piercing into its stomach.

"Bravo! Bravo!" Port applauded as the beast dispersed into smog, "It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true huntress in training," he looked up at the clock, "I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings and stay vigilant. Class dismissed!"

Weiss sneered and marched out of the room before everyone else.

Jaune chased after her, "Weiss!"

She stopped in the hall, "What?"

"What's wrong? Why are you acting so-"

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? You're supposed to be a leader and all you've been so far is a nuisance."

"What did I do?"

"That's just it, you've done nothing to earn your position," she jabbed a finger at him, "Back in the forest, you had no idea about _anything_. You didn't even have an Aura! Or know about them! It's like you've never had any training to begin with!"

"I.. I have!"

"I've studied, and trained, and quite frankly, I deserve better," she turned her back to him, "Ozpin made a mistake."

Jaune sighed in defeat as she marched away. He turned and jumped back as Ozpin turned out to be right behind him, "Hmm."

"Sir?"

The headmaster took a breath, "Nothing is going how I thought it would.."

"What do you mean?"

"It really was a mistake.." he looked down at him, "I... need to make an announcement. Please excuse me."

Jaune sidestepped as Ozpin walked to the elevator, "What did I do wrong?"

Ozpin looked at him from the elevator, "It was I who made the mistake, and I will fix it.."

With that the elevator close without another word.  
====  
That afternoon in the library teams RPBY and JN_R were doing some of their homework.

Ruby yawned as she read over her Algebra textbook, then looked over to Pyrrha, "Hey, do you have Prof. Pemdas or Sacotoa for math?"

"Sacotoa," Pyrrha said.

"Did they give you a whole page of work to do?""

"Actually, she gave two."

"Yeesh, do you want some help with that?" Blake asked, closing her Grimmology book.

"I.. Yes, please."

Ruby sat up, "I'd like some help too!"

Blake laughed, "Alright, we'll be a study group, then."

The two quickly got comfortable next to her, textbooks in hand. Before they could start, Weiss stomped up to her team's table with a brunette rabbit faunas following her, both had matching black bands on their wrist.

Yang slid up to her group, "What's with the girl?"

Everyone shrugged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I figured out why the previous chapters look like they do and I promise the rest of them won't look like that.  
> Not sure if I'll fix it though, it keeps messing up when I try.
> 
> Edit: Fixed previous chapters.


	6. Jaundice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sorry for taking like a billion years to get back to this, I'm just bad with procrastination.

Jaune stood hunched over in the arena with Cardin standing in front of him, laughing at him a bit. The blonde eventually caught his breath and charged at him, yelling in frustration. Cardin stepped to the side, leaving Jaune's sword to grind against the floor tiles. Jaune looked back just as Cardin turned to smash his mace into his chest, throwing him back a few feet and onto the floor.  
He got back up and charged again like low level video game AI, Cardin blocked his sword with the handled of his mace.

Cardin pushed forward, forcing Jaune to his knees, "This is the part where you lose."

"Over my dead-Oofugh!"

Cardin kicked him in the stomach, sending Jaune to his side. He raised his mace to hit him again.

"That's enough!" Glynda interrupted, turning on the arena lights and stepping between the two.  
Glynda pulled out her scroll and sent the collected data to the projection on the wall, "Students, as you can see, Mr. Arc's Aura has now dropped into the red. In a tournament style duel, this would indicate that Jaune is longer fit for battle and the official may call the match."

Glynda turned to Jaune as he sat up, "Mr. Arc, it's been weeks now, please refer try to refer to your scroll during combat, gauging your aura will help you to decide when it is appropriate to attack or when it's better to move to a more... defensive strategy."

Jaune looked at his scroll, all the bars and numbers like a second language to him, and sighed, ignoring whatever else Glynda might've said.

"Remember everyone!" she called out, "The Vytal Festival is only a few months away. It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing!" she paused for a moment as the audience of students cheered for a bit, "Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale."

At that, the bell rang and several students started leaving.

Pyrrha watched Jaune as he sulked, worried about him. Ruby grabbed her arm, snapping her out of it, "Pyrrha?"

"Oh, I'm just.. lost in thought."

Ruby glanced at Jaune, "Well.. Maybe there's something we could do to help. You know, after lunch, otherwise Yang will start hunting us down."

Pyrrha smiled, "Yeah.."  
====  
"So..." Nora started, leaning over her recently cleaned plate, "There we were... In the middle of the night..."

"It was day," Ren corrected.

"We were surrounded by Ursai."

"They were Beowolves," Ren said, raising his mug.

"DOZENS OF THEM!!"

"Two of them..."

"But they were no match," Nora continued, ignoring Jaune as he sulked, "And in the end... Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of lien selling Ursa skin rugs!"

"We made 20,000 lien selling the Beowolf masks," Ren took a sip of his drink, "And we were admitted into the nearby Academy for our "impressive abilities" despite not being properly trained."

Jaune sighed a little.

"Jaune, are you okay?" Pyrrha asked.

He looked up, "Uh? Oh, yeah! Why?"

"It's just that..." Ruby continued, a little awkwardly, "You seem a little.. not okay.."

Everyone looked at him, he forced a laugh, "Eh, guys, I'm fine... Seriously!"

The sound of mocking laughter came from behind them, making them turn. Team Cardinal was throwing food at the brunette rabbit faunas as she walked up to Jaune, laughing. It didn't do much other than make her embarrassed.

"Jaune, we need to talk," she said, grabbing a thrown apple a few inches from her face, then motioning to the door, "In private."

He looked up, as if to protest, but the faunus tapped the band on her wrist, which shut his mouth. He stood up and followed her out.

Pyrrha watched as they went, "That doesn't sound good.."

Suddenly, an empty milk carton flew at them and hit Ruby in the forehead, grabbing the rest of the table's attention.  
====  
"So, what's up, Velvet?" Jaune asked, "You sounded serious."

"It's about your performance," Velvet said, turning around to face him.

"I'm trying! But combat requires paying attention to so many things and-"

"It's your performance in general, Jaune."

"..What?"

Velvet crossed her arms, "Nobody has ever gotten below a C in every class, everyone has strengths and weaknesses. For example: Weiss struggles with Home Economics. But I can at least say she's doing everything she can to do better."

"What? I.. I am!"

The faunus turned her scroll over to him and played a video.

{"Yes! Yes, prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution, more popularly known as the Faunus War, humankind was quite, quite adamant about colonizing the continent of Menagerie. Committing many, many atrocities! Such as slavery, and even attempted genocide!" Dr. Oobleck took a sip from his mug before dashing in front of his students, "Now! While this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events!"

Jaune, sitting in the front row, was sound asleep on his desk. Dr. Oobleck seemed to have not noticed yet.

"Why the repercussions of them and the following uprising can still be seen to this day!" he dashed to the center of the room, "Now! Have any among you been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage?"

Some of the students raised their hands, a few more awkwardly than others.

"Dreadful, simply dreadful!" he darted to his desk, "Give me names at the end of the class and I will sort it out, I refuse to let ignorance go unchecked! Remember, students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence! I mean, I mean just look what happened to the White Fang!"

He took another sip before rushing back to the center of the room, "Now, which one of you young scholars can tell me what many theorists believe to be the turning point in the third year of the war?"

Weiss raised her hand.

"Yes?"

"The battle at Fort Castle!"

"Precisely!" he shouted, jumping a little, "And, who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?"

Cardin flicked a paper football at Jaune's head, waking him up.

"Hey!" Jaune said as he shot awake.

Dr. Oobleck darted ahead of Jaune, "Mr. Arc! Finally contributing to class! This is excellent! Excellent! What is the answer?"

Jaune glanced around, "Uhhh... The answer..." he looked over to Pyrrha, "The advantage... of the Faunus... had over that guy's stuff.."

Pyrrha pointed at her eyes with one hand and tapped her Anatomy textbook.

"Um, b-binoculars!" Jaune said, smiling awkwardly.

Pyrrha laid her head on her desk, sighing as everyone else laughed. Blake looked over at her, then gave her a gentle head pat.

Dr. Oobleck took another swig of his drink, "Very funny, Mr. Arc," he looked at Cardin, who was laughing harder than the others, "Cardin! Perhaps you would care to share your thoughts on the subject!"

Cardin straightened his hair, "Well, I know it's a lot easier to train an animal than a soldier."

"Cardin, you ignorant fu-}

Jaune turned off the video, "I fell asleep once! You can't lecture me over one mistake!"

"You fall asleep in his class everyday, Jaune. I get that some classes will struggle to keep a person's attention, but you don't even try to come to the evening study sessions the rest of your team agreed on to at least keep up."

He stepped back, "Well, how do you know I'm not working on it alone?"

"I didn't say you weren't. Just... you're so behind in so many classes it'd probably do you more good to have everyone's help."

"What? Do you think I'm that stupid?"

"Would you stop putting words in my mouth?" Velvet asked, "I know you can do this, but you just need help. There's nothing wrong with that."

"Nobody else on my team needs help! I'm supposed to be the leader and you want to tell me it's okay for me to be the most helpless?"

"Jaune, please, Academies like Beacon kick students out if they can't keep a passing grade. I'm not asking for straight A's, just C's! And you'd be amazed at how far a little help can go!"

He pushed her back, "I don't need anyone on my team thinking I'm useless!"

Velvet frowned, "They won't-"

Jaune turned around, "Just shut up! I. Do not. Want. Your help."

She sighed, "Alright. I'll stop.." she started walking back to the cafeteria, "But you know where to find us if you change your mind."  
====  
That night, Jaune walked out to the balcony, where Blake, Pyrrha and Ruby were sitting.

"Hey, guys. You, uh.. Wanted to see me?"

Pyrrha nodded, "We have been talking about it, and we want to help you out!"

"What?"

Ruby smiled, "We know you're having a hard time in class, and that you aren't the best at fighting, so we thought you'd like some tutoring! Me and Pyrrha already started a stuby group of sorts with Blake, so we don't mind another person!"

Blake glanced to the side, as if she wanted to say something but changed her mind.

He scratched his neck, "You think I need help?"

"Jaune, everyone needs a little push from time to time," Pyrrha said, "It doesn't make you any different from the rest of us."

"Yeah, you made it to Beacon! That shows how much you're capable of doing!" Ruby cheered.

"No!"

"What? But why?"

He stomped his foot, "My father, grandfather, and his father before him were all warriors! They were all heroes!" he pointed behind him, "And heroes don't need help! They aren't damsels in distress, hanging from trees and waiting to be rescued! If I can't do this on my own... Then what good am I?"

"Jaune..."

"Ozpin already had to stick Velvet on my team because of me, I don't need three more people reminding me that I can't do this!"

Pyrrha blinked, "I thought Velvet was your team's Mentor because of Weiss, considering."

"Ozpin jumped the gun, and assigned her as a backup partner and team Mentor. In the event that anyone in my team gets expelled, Velvet will fill in as a substitute partner," he pushed up his sleeve to show the black band on his wrist, "That's what this is about, to let staff know why Velvet isn't with her original team and why she is doing my job as leader."

The girls looked at each other, "Jaune, that sounds like you're already on thin ice, you really should have some help."

He backed up, "Just leave me alone!"

After a short silence, Ruby sighed, then grabbed Pyrrha's arm, "Come on, guys. If he doesn't want to listen, then there's nothing we can do."

The trio walked to the door, Blake looked back for a second and shook her head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really wasn't sure what to do with this one, or how to end it.


	7. Forever Fall

Several days later, team _NWR and Velvet sat in the JNWR dorm. Everyone doing some sort of school work, except Nora who finished it surprisingly quick. Leaving her to do as she pleases, such as jump on her bed, which is what she chose to do.

"How come Jaune gets home so late?" she asked.

"He's become rather scarce ever since he turned down Pyrrha's help," Ren said, oiling the joint of the knife on his pistol.

"That's weird. Doesn't he know we have a field trip tomorrow?" Nora twisted around, landing on her back, "We need our rest!"

"I'm sure our leader knows exactly what he's doing," Weiss said, aggressively.

Velvet sighed, closing her box, "I hope so.. Otherwise the reassignments are going to take forever."

Jaune slowly closed the crack in the door he was looking out of and leaned against the wall.  
====  
The next day, at about noon, several teams went with Glynda to a thick red forest a couple hours from Beacon.

"Yes students, the Forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful. But we are not here to sight-see. Professor Peaches asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest. And staff is patrolling the area here to make sure that none of you get lost," Glynda said as some of the students marveled at the trees.

She stopped and turned, sudden enough to make a few students run into each other, "Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap. However, "she looked to her side, "this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here at four o'clock. Have fun!"

Everyone walked by a teacher carrying empty jars, taking one and thanking them. Jaune looked over to his team, then walked in the opposite direction.  
====  
Yang looked over the trees as she sat next to Blake, "You know, I was expecting to be bored, it being so quiet. But it's actually pretty nice!"

"Yeah," Blake smiled, "I wish I could've brought a book with me.."

Pyrrha jogged up behind them, "Guys, I need a little help. The sap is really sticky."

They looked up at her, "What do you-"

Pyrrha held up her hand, which had a jar stuck to it, "And Ruby's stuck to the tree."

"Help," Ruby called, both hands and a foot stuck to a tree from trying to remove the tap.

"Oh heck."  
====  
_NWR and Velvet sat around as they waited for their last jar to fill.

"Ooh, my stomach.." Nora whined, curled in a ball.

"I told you not to eat the sap," Ren said, "And you ate 3 jars worth."

"Blergh.."

Weiss sighed, trying to scrape off the dried sap on her palms, "Gross."

"Could be worse. When my team had to come here, Coco tripped head first into the tap. Sap got everywhere," Velvet laughed, "She was so traumatized by the mess, she refuses to grow her hair back out."

"I.. That doesn't sound funny."

Velvet cleared her throat, "It's a look back and laugh sort of thing, really.."

"Hmm.."  
====  
Jaune sat in the clearing, looking at his jar full of sap, and sighed.

"Mr. Arc? Where is the rest of your team?" Glynda asked, walking up to him, "I specifically said to stick together."

"Oh, I-I.. They have Velvet, they're fine, you know?"

"That is besides the point, you were told to stay with your team, but you clearly aren't."

Jaune looked down, "Well.. Clearly, it's fine, right? I got the sap, like you asked!"

Glynda glared at him and opened her mouth to start scolding him, but was interrupted by a group of students arguing.

"I'm just saying, they should have told us the sap was like this," Yang said, carrying most of her team's jars.

Ruby whined, hoping on one foot as the other had no boot, "It ripped off the sole."

"I'm sure we can get you a new pair," Pyrrha said.

"No, Pyrrha. I had the same pair of boots for three years! They don't sell them anymore!"

"Oh, well. Maybe we could go shopping together then? I could help you out," she smiled, "Help you try on some new outfits while we're at it?"

Ruby looked up, tail wagging, "Oh, that sounds fun!"

Blake stepped up, giving Pyrrha a suspicious side glance, "Maybe we should _all_ go then? Give you more opinions."

Pyrrha glared at her.

Glynda sighed as more students came into the clearing, then looked at Jaune, "We'll finish this conversation later, Mr. Arc."  
====  
Later that evening, Jaune stood in Ozpin's office.

The headmaster looked over several papers, then at Jaune, "Mr. Arc, it has come to my attention that you are extremely far behind your peers."

"I'm sorry, sir, I can do better if you give me more time! I swear!"

Ozpin took a sharp breath, "Jaune, I have given you almost a full semester to catch up. I have given your team a mentor, Ms. Scarlatina, but you _willingly_ ignored her while your teammates became adjusted to her being completely in charge."

"They won't even listen to me!"

"You don't even try being their leader, or their teammate. I have made mistakes in my choices of leader before, but this is the first time I've ever made the mistake of choosing a _student_."

"S-Sir?"

Ozpin carefully placed the papers down, "These are your papers, Mr. Arc. I called the Academy you _claimed_ to have come from, Radial."

Jaune swallowed.

"And they told me that they've never had a Jaune Arc at their school. They had a _Johanna_ Arc, _six years ago_. And her credentials are practically identical to yours, save for times and gender."

"I... Um.."

"Jaune, I didn't double check your applications because of people like Johanna, your family has been nothing but honorable and trustworthy for generations," he tapped the papers, "This? Right here is despicable, Mr. Arc. I turned down so many other, more deserving young hunters because I had _faith_ in your family. Do you know how many people's dreams you possibly crushed because of this?"

"I.."

"No, you don't. You wanted to play hero on a _whim_ , and used your family's reputation to take this opportunity from people who actually _worked_ for it, then refused to do anything to make that lose worth it. You sleep through classes, refuse to train properly, ignore help, and refuse to even attempt working with your team."

Jaune looked at the floor.

Ozpin sighed, "Pack your bags, tomorrow morning you'll be sent home."

He looked up, surprised.

"I've called your parents ahead of time and told them exactly why you're coming home."

"Y-Yes, sir..." he bowed a little, before leaving.

Ozpin leaned back in his chair, and pinched the bridge of his nose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you ever wonder how Jaune even faked his papers?


	8. The Stray

Some months later, because back then life was good and uneventful, Team _NWR and Velvet walked down the market street of the nearby city.

Velvet looked over her scroll, "I wonder if you guys would still be able to compete in the Tournament? I know Atlas has their students in pairs and not teams of four, but I'm still in Team Coffee(CFVY)."

"Well, maybe you could fill in? Is your team planning on joining?" Nora asked.

Velvet shrugged, "Fox is still on the fence about it, but Glynda did say it might be okay for me to join you guys if they decide not to, if the other schools approve."

"Well, I'm looking forward to the Vytal Festival in general," Weiss said, smiling bright as she looked up at the ' 'WELCOME TO VALE!' ' banner a shop keep was putting up, "A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dances! Parades! The tournament, of course! Oh, the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breath-taking!"

"Never thought I'd see you so excited for something like this," Velvet said, crossing her arms, "It's pretty cute."

Weiss's eyes went wide, "I.. It's.. Ajstum.." she coughed a little as the rest of her team chuckled.

"Anyway, remind me why we're visiting the docks today?" Ren asked.

Weiss stopped at a lamp post, watching a ship dock, "I heard the students from Vacuo are arriving by ship today, and as a representative of Beacon, I feel as though it's my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom."

"None of us are native to Beacon though, and this is, like, the most we've seen of it," Nora whispered to Ren.

"She probably just wants to spy on them to get an upper hand in the tournament," Ren whispered back, "She does have family coming to see her."

Velvet glanced back at them, then to Weiss, "That's really nice of you, Weiss."

"Thank you," Weiss bowed a little, then noticed a shop across the street was covered in police tape.

They walked up to the scene, at the same time as team RPBY conveniently.

"What happened here?" Ruby asked.

"Another robbery, second Dust shop hit this week," one officer said, "Place is turnin' into a jungle."

"They didn't take any money again!" the other one shouted.

"That doesn't make any sense," the first one responded, waving his notepad a bit, "Who needs that much Dust?"

"I don't know," the other shrugged.

"You thinkin' it might be the White Fang?"

Weiss scoffed as the two continued to talk, "The White Fang? What an awful bunch of degenerates."

"What's your problem?" Blake asked.

"My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane."

Ruby looked at Blake.

"The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths," Blake crossed her arms, "They're a collection of misguided Faunus."

"Misguided? They want to wipe humanity of the face of the planet!"

"They never actually said that," Ruby mumbled.

"Of course you'd say that," Weiss glared.

"Anyway, it doesn't explain why they'd rob a Dust shop, when Menagerie, their base of operation, is practically a giant Rainbow Dust vein!"

"And they never caught that Torchwick guy I ran into a few months ago, maybe it was him?" Ruby suggested.

"That doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum," Weiss said.

Ruby glared at her.

"Those Faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal."

Yang held Ruby's shoulder, "That's not necessarily true.."

"HEY, STOP THAT FAUNUS!!" someone shouted behind them.

The two teams looked back as a blonde monkey faunus ran passed them, with two other officers behind him.

"YOU NO GOOD STOW-AWAY!!"

Weiss motioned to that whole situation, as if to prove a point, but smacked someone in the face, "Oh, sorry!"

"It is okay!" the girl said, with an uncomfortably wide smile.

Weiss backed up, a little weirded out.

The girl raised her hand in a wave, "Salutations!"

"Um. Hello?" Ruby said.

"My name is Penny!" she said, making sharp motions to each of them, "It's a pleasure to meet you!"

Pyrrha stepped forward, "I'm Pyrrha," she motioned to the others, "This is Ruby, Blake, Yang, Ren, Nora, Weiss, and Velvet!"

"It's a pleasure to meet you!"

Weiss raised a brow, "You already said that."

Penny blinked, "So I did!"

"Well, sorry again for hitting you!" Weiss said as everyone turned to walk away.

"See you later, friend," Ruby said, waving.

Penny's eyes went wide as the group walked away.

"She was.. weird," Yang said.

"Anyway, back to what I was say-" Weiss stopped with everyone else.

Penny leaned forward, "What did you call me?"

"Oh, I'm really sorry!" Yang panicked as Weiss pointed at Penny and back where she was before, "I definitely thought you didn't hear me!"

"No, not you." Penny stepped up to Ruby, getting really close to her face, " _You_."

" _Me_?" Ruby glanced around, nervous, "I-I don't know. I, um. Uh."

"You called me ' 'friend' ', am I really your ' 'friend' '?"

"Uh.." Ruby looked behind her, at her team who all did motions to tell her to say no, "Yeah, sure! Why not?"

Everyone else fell over in defeat as Penny celebrated, " _Sensational_! We can paint our nails, try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!"

Ruby leaned back, "Umm. I'm not... into boys, though."

Pyrrha pumped her fist, smiling. Blake nudged her, annoyed.

"Um, so.." Yang looked around, "What are you doing here?"

"I am here to fight in the Tournament!"

"Wait, you?" Weiss asked, confused.

Penny saluted, "I'm combat ready!"

Weiss grabbed Penny's shoulders, "Wait, does that mean you know that monkey tailed rapscallion?"

"Who?"

"The filthy faunus from the boat!"

Ruby glared at her, "Why do you keep saying things like that!?"

"Huh?"

"Calling him all that stuff!" Ruby motioned behind her, "He's a person!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, would you like me to stop referring to the trash can as a trash can, or this lamp post as a post?"

"Stop it!"

"Stop what?" Weiss asked, raising her hands, "He clearly broke the law! Give him time and he'll probably join those other faunus in the White Fang."

Ruby clenched her fists, "You're just an ignorant little brat!"

"How dare you talk to me like that!"

"Well, if you stopped acting like a judgmental little girl then maybe it wouldn't be true!" Blake jumped in.

Yang looked over at Velvet, "Aren't you going to say something?"

"This is honestly the first time I've heard her talk like this.."

The argument continued on through the evening, and into the dorm halls.

"I don't understand why this is such a problem to you," Weiss said to Blake, "I get Ruby is like your friend, but you don't seem to realize that you're defending an organization that hates humanity," she crossed her arms, "The faunus of the White Fang are pure evil!"

"There's no such thing as pure evil!" Blake stomped, "Why do you think they hate humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin! People like you! That force the White Fang to take such drastic measures."

"People like _me_?"

"You're discriminatory!"

"I'm a victim!"

Ruby looked up, her anger flaring up. Pyrrha held her leader's shoulder, worried.

"You want to know why I despise the White Fang? Why I'm not particularly fond of the faunus?" Weiss asked, stopping, "It's because they've been at war with my family for years. War, as in actual bloodshed. My grandfather's company has had a target painted across its back for as long as I can remember, and ever since I was a child I've watched family friends disappear, board members executed. An entire train full of Dust stolen. And everyday, my father would come home furious. And that made for a very difficult childhood," Weiss looked up at Blake, "The White Fang are nothing but liars, thieves, and murderers!"

"Well, maybe we were tired of being pushed around!" Blake shouted.

The hall went silent as Blake realized what she said.

Blake backed up, "I.."

Ruby grabbed Blake, panicked, and ran down the hall with her, with enough speed to not be worth chasing but not enough to leave a trail of petals.

Yang and Pyrrha stepped away from Weiss as she glared.

Ruby eventually stopped outside of the school, in front of a statue. Blake took a few steps away from her, looking up at the structure. She reached for her bow, tears welling as she untied it.

Her cat ears twitched at the feeling of cool air and she wiped her eyes.

Ruby looked at the ground for a moment, before returning her attention to Blake, "Now what?"  
====  
The next morning, teams _NWR and _P_Y(and Velvet) returned to the city.

"I'm really starting to get worried about them," Pyrrha said.

"They're big girls, they can take care of themselves," Weiss assured.

"Weiss, come on, they're our teammates," Yang said.

"Are they? You all heard what Blake said, and saw how Ruby reacted."

"Weiss.."

"It doesn't matter, they're missing and we need to find them," Ren said.

"A member of the White Fang? And someone who's helping her? Right under our noses!"

"I hope they're doing okay.." Velvet mumbled.

Meanwhile, Ruby and Blake were having tea. Blake looked at Ruby, concerned.

"Ruby.. Do you.. remember our time in the Fang?"

She looked up, "I.. remember going to rallies with our parents. And a lot of rocks and empty bottles getting thrown at us.. Then after what happened to my mom, Dad stopped letting me go.."

"A year after that incident, my father stepped down as leader. Sienna Khan took over and that's when the White Fang became violent. Attacking businesses that wouldn't serve us, hijacking cargo from companies that abused their faunus employees.." Blake said, her fingers twitched, "I think the worst part is that it was working. We were getting treated as equals, but not out of respect. Out of fear."

Ruby frowned, "Is that why you left?"

"I.. Only stayed in the first place because of people like you. I told myself it was worth it if it meant the innocent would be treated well and equal.. but.." Blake looked at her hand, "After a while, I started to wonder.. The next time you saw me.. What would you see..?"

Ruby reached over and grabbed Blake's hand, "I see my best friend. A little rougher than I remember, but I still see my friend."

Blake blushed a little, squeezing Ruby's hand, "I.. I'm not sure if I should be comforted by that or worried about your standards."

Ruby lit up, tail wagging, "Ah, see? You haven't changed that much."  
====  
Some time later, the rest of the gang were still looking for the pair. Save for Weiss, everyone was calling out for them.

"Weiss, you have to help!" Nora said.

"Oh? You know who'd really be of help? The police!" Weiss said.

Pyrrha glared at her.

"It was just an idea," Weiss said, throwing her arms up.

"Yes, but possibly the worst idea I've ever heard."

"We really should hear their side of the story before jumping the gun," Velvet said.

"And I think, when we hear it, you'll realize I was right!"

"And I think Weiss's hair looks lovely today!" Penny said, suddenly behind the group.

They all jumped, turning to her.

"Hey guys!" Penny waved, "What are you up to?"

"We're looking for our friends, Blake and Ruby," Pyrrha said.

Penny gasped, grabbing Pyrrha's arms, "Ruby is missing!? Well, don't you worry, Pyrrha! I won't rest until we find our friend!"

"Um, that's great, Penny. Really, but I think we're fine, right?" she looked behind her for the others, but they were all gone, she sighed.

Meanwhile, again, Blake and Ruby were walking down an alley. Ruby looked over to her, "So now what?"

"I still don't think the White Fang is behind all those robberies, they've never needed that much Dust before, and Menagerie is practically a giant Dust vein if they did."

"Well, I know there's a big Schnee warehouse in the area," Ruby said, "It's the last place nearby that hasn't been attacked, if we go there and the Fang doesn't show up, we'll know it wasn't them!"

"Oh? How big is it?"

"Massive!" Ruby stretched out her arms, "If someone stole from there, they'd be set for life!"

Blake nodded, "Then we'll go there tonight."

Later that day, around noon, Velvet and Weiss walked out of a store.

"Thank you!" Velvet called before shutting the door, "We're never going to find them at this rate."

Weiss just continued walking.

Velvet watched her take a few steps before speaking up, "Do you even care?"

"What? Of course I do, I'm just afraid of what they'll say when we do find them.. The innocent don't run.."

"The scared do."

Weiss turned to her, "What?"

"You had more power than anyone in that hallway. You could get pretty much anyone to ruin her life, or even kill her. So she was scared, and Ruby helped her friend get away from someone dangerous."

"I'm dangerous?! I would never-"

"But you _could_. Just like any faunas could be in the Fang," Velvet crossed her arms, "Yet, you don't suspect anything of me, do you?"

Weiss looked down, "Of course not.."

"So what's stopping you from giving other faunus a similar level of faith?"

The two fell silent.

At the same time, Pyrrha and Penny were walking near the docks.

"So, Blake is your friend?" Penny asked.

"I would like to think so," Pyrrha said, "She's a bit aggressive when it comes to me being around Ruby, but I can kind of understand."

"So you aren't mad at her?"

"No, Weiss is though."

"But why?"

Pyrrha crossed her arms, "Blake might not be who we thought she was.."

Penny gasped, "Is she a robot?"

"What?" Pyrrha looked at her, confused, "I.. Don't think so? She didn't really talk to us before they left."

"I don't have a lot of friends, but if I did, I'd want them to talk to me about things."

Pyrrha looked down, "Yeah.."

A few hours after sunset, Blake and Ruby sat on the roof of one of the warehouse buildings, hidden in shadows.

Ruby looked around the area through the scope of her rifle, "Still no signs of anyone."

Suddenly, a huge gust of wind blew behind them and the loud whirring of the engines of several dropships flooded the air as they flew over head.

"Seriously? Why do they only make noise when they're within sight!?"

Blake watched as people started to exit the ships, all of them wearing white vests, black hoods, and Grimm masks.

"Oh no," Blake said, her ears folding, as she clearly saw the red emblem of the White Fang on their backs.

The two watched as they unloaded cables and started hooking them to the crates.

"You really didn't think it was them, did you?" Ruby asked.

"No.. I.."

"Hey! What's the hold up?" someone shouted.

Blake and Ruby looked over to them.

Roman stepped out of the ship, "We aren't the most inconspicuous group of thieves, so how about you animals pick up the pace?"

"This isn't right, the White Fang would never work with a human," she got up, pulling Gambol from its holster, "Especially not one like that."

Ruby shifted her gun completely into its sniper form, "I've got you up here, be careful."

Blake nodded before jumping down and running in between the crates.

Roman walked passed a Fang member holding a cable, "No, you idiot, this isn't a leash!"

Blake rushed behind him, pressing her blade against his throat.

"Hey, what the-" he noticed Blake, then rolled his eyes.

"Nobody move!" she called.

Everyone pulled out their weapons, ready to fight.

"Whoa, take it easy there, little lady," Roman said.

"Brothers of the White Fang! Why are you aiding this scum?"

The Fang members all lowered their weapons for a moment, looking at each other.

Roman chuckled, "Oh, kid, didn't you get the memo?"

"What are you talking about?"

"The White Fang and I are going in on a joint business venture together."

Blake pressed her blade harder against his throat, "Tell me what it is before I put an end to it."

Roman grinned as several more armed White Fang charged into the area, "I'd like to see you try."

She looked over the building crowd in fear and Roman moved his cane over her foot. Before he could do anything, Ruby shot him in the face, knocking him to the ground.

Blake stepped back as the White Fang charged for her. Roman got up and looked up at the warehouse Ruby was at.

Ruby jumped down as he fired his cane at her, she burst forward in a flurry of petals, crashing into several Fangs. Blake lunged for Roman, hitting him with Gambol's sheath before dodging a strike from another Fang in a puff of smoke.

"Hey!" someone called from behind them.

Everyone turned to see Pyrrha, Milo and Akouo in hand.

"Oh, it's the cereal girl," he waved, "Hello, ' 'Pumpkin' ', shouldn't you be somewhere else, signing autographs or something?"

Penny stepped into view, "Pyrrha, is everything okay?"

"You need to get back, Penny," Pyrrha said, not looking away from Roman.

Meanwhile, team _NWR, Velvet and Yang, all regrouped outside a bookstore.

"Any luck on your end?" Yang asked.

"No," Ren said, then looked over to Weiss and Velvet, "And I suppose you two didn't find them either."

"Aw man, why can't they just make some noise or something? Make it obvious where they are?" Nora sighed.

Suddenly, there were several explosions coming from deeper in the city, followed by a huge green beam blasting into the sky.

"Well, then."

Weiss started running towards the sound, scroll in hand, "Come on! That might be them!"

Everyone followed close behind her.  
====  
Several police officer were on the scene, with White Fang already cuffed in their cars.

Ruby, Blake, Penny and Pyrrha around waiting to be let go.

Weiss and the others walked up to them, and Blake stood up, "Weiss! I want you to know that I'm no longer associated with the-"

"Stop," Weiss said, firmly, "I want to apologize."

"You do..?"

Weiss nodded, "I've been speaking about the faunus, about you and Ruby, even Velvet, like you are all monsters with no good in you. Even when I spoke to Velvet, or ate at the same table as you all, in those moments you were no different from me, yet I thought otherwise for no other reason than stubborn stupidity. I should be treating you as the people you are, and I'm truly sorry I haven't.."

Blake looked back at Ruby and they nodded to each other, Weiss held out her hand, "So.. Friends?"

She smiled, taking her hand and giving it a small shake, "Friends."

Penny rushed up and held them both in a tight hug, "Yay! New friends!"

"Stop, Penny! You're killing them!" Ruby cried as everyone started hurried to their rescue.

Ozpin watched them from the shadows, them looked at his scroll.

[Qrow: Queen has pawns.]

He looked over the group as they all made sure the two were okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember how I said fight scenes are the bane of my existence? Yeah. That's still a thing and I chose, like, the worst show considering that weakness.


	9. Best Day Ever

Early in the morning, several days later, a shop keep was re-opening his Dust shop, which in context means it took him like five months to fix a window which doesn't sound right but whatever.

As soon as he flipped the closed sign, a girl with green hair walked up to him.

"Excuse me?" she said, smiling a little awkwardly, "I'm not from around here, could you help me find Tuskon's Book Trade?"

He nodded, then walked into his store for a moment. He came back out with a sheet of paper with directions on it and handed it over to her.

"Thank you," she said, looking over the paper.

She waved good-bye before turning down the street.

"I knew you were lost," a boy said as she passed by.

She turned back around, pulling a wallet from her pocket, "Mercury," she held it out at his face, "I will seriously pay you to shut up."

He shook his head, "That's not your money."

"But it could be yours," she said, grinning, "For five minutes of silence."

He looked as if he was considering it, but quickly shook his head again, "No deal."

She rolled her eyes, "Whatever, come on."

The two walked down the street for a few minutes before Mercury spoke up again, "So how far is this place anyway?"

"Just a few more blocks."

He sighed, "This place is so dull.."

She shrugged, "I kinda like it. Tall buildings, diverse culture.."

"And nice, dopey people, who are easy to pickpocket."

She smirked, "That's every city."

He raised his hands, pretending to plead, "Oh, Emerald, Master Thief! Please don't take my money! I barely have enough to get by!"

She sneered at him before walking ahead.

"You're no fun today."

A bit later, the two finally walked into a book store. Mercury turned to a shelf near the door as Emerald walked up to the front and rang the desk bell.

"Be right there!" a man called from the back.

Shortly after, a man carrying like 30 books, pushed through the door behind the desk, "Welcome to Tuskon's Book Trade: Home to Every Book Under the Sun!" he put the books down to his left and looked at Emerald, "How may I help you?"

"Just browsin'," Mercury said, closing a book.

"Actually, I was wondering if you had any copies of ' 'The Thief and the Butcher' '?" Emerald asked, leaning onto the desk, "A friend of mine was hoping to get it."

"Yes, we do."

"That's great," She looked back at him and he stepped back, noticing her heavily dilated pupils, "Listen, Tuskon, I have to be quick."

"And what was it again?" Mercury asked.

Tuskon looked at Mercury, then back at Emerald, "Yes?"

"Roman is coming after you, you know about his deal with the White Fang and he can't have you tattling," she said, as Mercury continued talking to no one, "I know you're leaving for Vacuo soon, but I'm here to tell you not to."

"What? And die?" Tuskon asked.

"No, Roman knows you're going there, too," Emerald pulled a passport out of her pocket, "You can't go anywhere without Roman finding you.." she opened the passport on the desk, "But maybe this can help.."

He looked it over as Mercury dimmed the lights, "You.. want to help me?"

"I'm giving you an option. You can still go to Vacuo, open your store there. But I can't promise Roman, or the White Fang, will leave you alone. Or.." she tapped the passport,

"You can be Jackson, trim your claws, grow out your hair, maybe even your beard. Pretend to be a human in Atlas. You'll have to hear more anti-faunas nonsense, sure, but you'll live."

He carefully picked up the passport, ".. Why?"

Emerald smiled, baring her teeth, making a pair of sharp curved canines more obvious, "Can't a person just be nice?"

Tuskon nodded.

Suddenly, Mercury kicked into the air, shooting a bullet from his boot.

"Run."  
====  
Meanwhile, in the Academy Cafeteria, teams RPBY and RW(V)N sat at their usual table, eating breakfast.

Blake was staring at her open notebook, lost in thought. Yang slid over, bumping her, "What'cha doin'?"

"Nothing," she said, closing the book, "Just, going over notes from last semester."

Yang turned and caught a tossed grape in her mouth, "Lame."

Nora giggled, flicking another grape with her spoon.

Once Yang caught that one as well, Ruby dropped a thick binder full of paper onto the table, startling everyone.

She cleared her throat, "Sisters, friends.. Weiss."

"Hey!"

Ruby held up her hand, "Four score and seven minutes ago, I had a dream..."

"Oh Dust.." Blake whispered.

"This ought to be good," Yang said, before catching a strawberry.

"I had a dream that the four, possibly eight, of us would come together and have the most fun anyone has ever had. Ever!" she cheered, tail wagging.

"Is that my binder?" Weiss asked, noticing the label.

Ruby held up two peace signs, "I am not a crook."

Blake laughed, "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about kicking off the semester with a bang!"

"I always kick my semester off with a _Yang_ ," Yang said.

She looked over everyone to see if anyone got it.

"Sorry, I'm not _Ren-to_ jokes before my coffee," Ren smirked.

Ruby leaned in a bit, "I'm glad to see you _Rose_ to the occasion."

Everyone laughed a little before Ruby continued, "Look, guys, it's been a good couple of weeks and between more exchange students arriving and the Tournament coming up, our second semester is going to be great! But classes start back up tomorrow, which is why I have taken the time to schedule a series of wonderful events for us to do together today!"

"I don't know whether to be proud or scared of what you have in store," Weiss said, "Unfortunately, I'll be training on my own for most of today so I won't know."

"And, I know I just called Blake lame for studying, but I do need to refresh my Biology," Yang said.

"Coco's already annoyed enough that I'm spending so much time here," Velvet said, "I promised to hang out with my team today at least."

Nora sighed, "Glynda's still mad at Ren for releasing all those lobsters."

"Cooking them is an act of unnecessary cruelty, and they _will_ have justice."

Ruby shrunk a bit, sulking, "Aw man..."

"Well, I'm pretty excited to spend all day with you!" Pyrrha said.

"With us," Blake said.

"Oh, aren't you studying today?"

"I can make time for Ruby."

Ruby rushed between the two and hugged them both, "Yay! All day with my two best friends!"  
====  
A couple hours later in the Combat Arena, Weiss was practicing her glyphs on some training dummies.

One finally gave to an ice glyph, snapping in half, surprising Weiss, "Goodness!"

Someone whistled behind her, "If you can do that on accident, I bet you could be a monster on purpose."

She looked behind her, "Cardin.."

"Hey, Princess," he said, crossing his arms, "Where's your little bunny maid, Valorie right?"

"Her name is Velvet and she's my Mentor," she crossed her arms, "Why do you care?"

He pulled out his mace, which has clear signs of recently being wielded back together on the handle, "She busted my mace, I figured it's only fair I return the favor."

Weiss glared, "You seriously think talking like that makes me want to help you?"

"Well, I figured if anyone would want her to get put down a peg, it'd be you," he said, motioning over her, "You're a Schnee, yet you're being forced to take orders from an animal. Figured there'd be some wounded pride."

Sky chuckled, "I think she's into it."

Cardin laughed, "Yeah? Can't say I'm surprised. I hear Playboy is popular in Atlas."

Weiss sneered.  
====  
Meanwhile, Velvet and three other people walked down the city street, all of them carrying various amounts of shopping bags.

She sighed, "You just wanted an extra pair of arms.."

The girl in sunglasses scoffed, "I wanted everyone to get a wardrobe update! That includes you."

"My clothes are fine."

"You have six _identical_ black tank tops!" she accused, "As long as we're friends, that's basically _illegal_."

Velvet shrugged, "Well, the others think it's fine.."

"Considering you can lift twice your own weight, I would be concerned if they wer-"

Velvet lowered her arms, letting the bags slip down towards a nearby puddle, "Coco, if you finish that sentence the clothes get it!"

She raised her hands, the color faded from her face, "Alright! Alright!"

Velvet nodded, raising her arms back up. Suddenly, her scroll went off. The tall, burly guy grabbed some of her bags so she could get it.

"Yes, Prof. Ozpin?"

{Ms. Scarlatina, I know you wanted to spend today with your actual team, but Ms. Schnee just sent Team Cardinal through my office window. Could you please calm her down?}

She held back a chuckle, "Yes, sir."

{Thank you.}

"Sorry, guys, I have to-" she looked up, seeing Coco glaring, " _What_? It's my job! I'll be back as soon as I can, I promise!"

"Yeah, sure.." she looked to the guys, "Fox, Yatsu, can you get the rest of her bags?"  
====  
Later in some arcade in the city, Pyrrha was playing at one of the game cabinets with Ruby.

She grit her teeth, rapidly pressing several buttons. Suddenly the machine played a defeated noise and Pyrrha slumped over while Ruby pumped her fists.

"Haha, 3 out of 5, you owe me a trip to Burger Queen!"

Pyrrha smiled, ruffling her leader's hair, "Alright.."

"Don't feel bad, Pyrrha," Blake said before taking a sip of her soda, "I owe her like 3 pizzas and a bowl of ramen."

"How have you lost that many times?"

"I kept challenging her to games of Haunt of The Dead, a shooter. Like an idiot."

Ruby chuckled, "I'm practically stealing from her."  
====  
Some point that night, Emerald and Mercury walked into a warehouse as White Fang unloaded crates from dropships.

"I can't believe you got us lost again," Mercury said.

" _Mercury, I swear to god-_ " Emerald started, but was interrupted by Roman.

"There you two are! Where have you been?" he shouted.

"Cleaning up one of your messes," Mercury answered, pointing an accusing finger at him, "Tuskon to be specific."

"I had that under control."

"Two packed bags and a ticket out of Vale said otherwise."

"Listen here, you little punk, if it were up to me I would take you and your little street rat friend here and I would-"

"You'd do what?" a feminine voice echoed, grabbing the trio's attention.

On top of one of the crates, the woman in a red dress stepped onto the elevator and it automatically lowered.

Roman laughed awkwardly, "I'd uh.. not kill them..?"

Emerald turned to her, smiling, "Cinder!"

"I thought I made it clear that you'd eliminate that little runaway," Cinder scolded, walking passed Emerald, who clearly wanted a hug.

"I was going to.."

"He was going to let him escape to Vacuo," Emerald said, "Mercury and I decided to take it upon ourselves to kill the rat."

"I think he was some sort of c-"

"Quiet," Cinder cut in, "Didn't I not specifically say to keep your hands clean while in Vale?"

Emerald scratched her head, "I.. just thought.."

"Don't think. Obey."

Emerald looked down, "Yes, ma'am. It won't happen again."

Cinder turned back to Roman, "And you."

He laughed awkwardly.

"Why wasn't this job done sooner?"

Roman motioned to all the crates of Dust, clearly annoyed, "Sorry if I've been a little busy stealing every spec of Dust in the kingdom!"

"You're an inspiration to every punk with a gun and a ski mask," Mercury said, dryly as Emerald snickered.

"Look around, kiddo. I've got the town running scared," he pointed his cane at them, "Thieves camping in every corner, Dust prices through the roof, and-" he motioned all around him, "we're sitting pretty in an old warehouse with more Dust crystals, vials, and rounds than we know what to do with!"  
He turned, "Speaking of which, if you guys wouldn't mind filling me in on your grand master plan, it might actually make my next stream of robberies go a little smoother!"

"Oh Roman, have a little faith," Cinder said, walking up to him, "You'll know what you need when you need to know," her eyes glew a bit, "Besides we're done with Dust."

"Ookay.. Then what now?"

"We're moving," Cinder said, walking for the exit, "Have the White Fang move the Dust to the appropriate trucks, I'll send you the coordinates to the new location," she grinned, "It's time for Phase Two."

Emerald and Mercury quickly followed behind her, leaving Roman to frustratingly smoke his cigar and look at his map.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Did you make Emerald a faunas just so you could better justify to yourself her sparing Tuskon?"
> 
>  
> 
> Maybe. ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿


	10. Welcome to Beacon

A few weeks later, during what should have been a pleasant afternoon, Atlesan Military Airships were polluting the clear sky and covering the docks.

Glynda and Ozpin watched from his office.

"Ironwood certainly loves bringing his work everywhere he goes," Glynda scowled.

"Well, running an Academy and the Military makes him a busy man," he watched another ship land on the edge of the docks, "But yes those are a bit of an eyesore.."

A little alarm went of on Ozpin's desk, grabbing both their attentions. Ozpin walked up to it and tapped the flashing display, opening the door.

"Ozpin!" A tall man called as he stepped in, rather informally.

"General," Ozpin responded, standing at attention with his cane firmly in his grasp.

"Please, drop the formalities," he said as he walked up to the headmaster and shook his hand, "It's been too long."  
He smiled as Glynda approached, "And Glynda! It has certainly been too long since we last met."

She waved her hand up, "Oh James!" she dropped the smile and looked over to Ozpin, "I'll be outside."

The general watched her leave the room, then looked by at Ozpin, "Well she hasn't changed a bit."

Ozpin cleared his throat, "So, what in the world has brought you all the way down from Atlas? Headmasters don't typically travel with their students for the Vytal Festival."

"Well, you know how much I love Vale this time of year," he straightened his tie, "Besides, with you hosting, I thought this would be a good opportunity to catch up."

The headmaster stepped behind his desk, "I can certainly appreciate quality time between friends," he sighed, sitting down, "However, the small fleet outside my window has me somewhat concerned."

"Well, concern is what brought me here."

Ozpin leaned forward in his sit, "I understand travel between kingdoms has become increasingly diffucult-"

"Oz.." James stepped closer, "You and I both know why I brought those men.."

He sighed, resting his arms on the desk, "We are in a time of peace. Shows of power like this are just going to give off the wrong impression."

James leaned forward, pressing his hands against the desk, "But if what Qrow said is true then-"

"If what Qrow said is true, then we will handle it tactfully," Ozpin explained, "It's the Vytal Festival, a time to celebrate unity and peace. So I suggest you not scare people by transporting thousands of soldiers halfway across the continent."

"I'm just being cautious."

"As am I. That is why we will continue training these children to be great Huntsmen and Huntresses."

Ironwood turned for the exit, "Trust me, I am.." he glanced back before opening the door, "But ask yourself this, do you really think your children can win a war?"

"Hopefully they won't have to.." he said as he watched the general leave.

At that, a bird flew in through the hole in his window and landed on his desk. He sighed and tapped his desk, a screen appeared under his hand, "Glynda, how much longer until we can get my window repaired?"  
====  
Meanwhile, in the library, teams Ruby and Rowan(that's RW[V]N) were hanging out.

Yang, Blake, Ruby, Weiss and Velvet all sat at one table, playing a board game. Well, Velvet was mostly watching and Blake seemed distracted.

Ruby looked over her deck of cards with a serious expression, then smiled, "Alright! Yang Xiaolong, prepare your kingdom for battle!"

Yang held up her fist, "Bring it on!"

"I deploy the Altesan Air Fleet!" Ruby called, slamming the card onto the board, "I get to fly right over your Ursai and attack your walls directly!" she continued, followed by making an explosion noise.

Her sister gasped, "You fiend!"

"And because Atlas is a part of Mantle, my repair time only lasts one turn," she grinned, smugly.

Yang chuckled, "Pretty sneaky, sis," she pulled a card from her hand and slammed it onto her side of the board, "But looks like you just activated my TRAP CARD! Giant Nevermore!"

"What!?"

"If I roll a seven or higher, Fatal Feathers will slice your fleet in two."

"But," Ruby said, handing Yang the die, "if you roll a six or lower, it'll turn on your own forces!"

"That's just a chance I'm willing to take," Yang glared, shaking the die in her hand.

Pyrrha smiled as she watched the group, holding a page in the book she was pretending to read. Ren caught a Vacuan ship piece before it hit Nora then looked at Pyrrha, who quickly noticed him and looked back at her book.

Ruby stood up as Yang rolled a nine, "NOO! MY FEARLESS SOLDIERS!"

"I'm pretty sure they're just androids," Yang said, taking several soldier pieces off Ruby's side.

"I will have vengeance!" she cried, pointing accusingly at Yang.

"Not until I draw my rewards which are doubled this round," Yang said as she pulled two cards from the blue deck, "thanks to the Mistral trade route!" she looked at one, "Ooh, The Smugglers of Wind Path, looks like I get to take two cards from your deck!"

"HAVE YOU NO HEART!?" Ruby shouted as Yang snagged two red cards from her.

Yang turned to Weiss as Ruby laid face first against the table, "Well Weiss, it's your turn!"

"I have..." Weiss looked over her deck, "Absolutely no idea what's going on."

Yang moved over next to her, "Look it's easy. You're playing as Vacuo which means all Vacuo-based cards come with a bonus!"

"That sounds dumb."

Yang started shifting around her cards, "See... You've got Sandstorm, Dessert Scavenge- Oh! Oh!" she pulled one card up a bit, "Resourceful Raider! See now you can take Ruby's discarded air fleet and put it in your hand!"

"Okay..." Weiss said, still a bit confused.

"And since Vacuo warriors have an endurance boost against natural hazards, you could use Sandstorm to disable my ground forces and simultaneously infiltrate my kingdom!" she then jabbed her, "Just know that I will not forget this declaration of war."

Weiss looked at her as she returned to her seat, "And that means?"

"You're just three moves away from conquering Remnant!" Ruby cried.

Velvet then held Weiss's shoulder, "Ooorr, you could not risk activating the Schnee Company Bribe trap card Yang's been quietly saving since turn 4, and use your Resourceful Raider to take Blake's Cult of the Leviathan, which will allow you to take one Grimm Card from everyone's decks."

Blake looked up from the floor to check her deck, "Oh.. yeah. I have that."

"Which means you can steal Yang's Major Ursai pack, Ruby's Sleeping Dragon Mother, and Blake's Church Grimm," she continued.

Yang laughed, "But the Sleeping Dragon Mother only comes out-"

"Shh," Velvet interrupted, then looked back at Weiss, "Which now leaves you with more defenses than anyone else, so all attacks against you until your next turn with result in the attacker instantly losing the card used. So now the other's are forced to attack each other."

Weiss smiled, "So I just play the waiting game now?"

"Yeah, once the last person's standing, you can use two cards. I'd recommend Sandstorm and The Vacuan Nomads if Ruby is left, Major Ursai and deactivating Yang's Dust Mine card with the Puckish Rogue if Yang is left, and just using Vacuan Pirates if Blake is left. Then tada! You now rule all of Remnant!"

Yang glared at Velvet, "How dare you."

"What? I was going to buy the winner a desert either way!" she shrugged, "Might as well make a date out of it."

"Yes, well, thanks for the-" Weiss blinked, "Wait."

Velvet grinned, starting for the door, "No time, gotta go!"

Weiss quickly followed her, practically steaming, "You can't just joke like that and leave!"

Ruby looked over at Blake, then noticed she seemed aggravated, "Blake? Are you okay?"

She sat up, "Oh, yeah. I'm fine.." she got up, laying her cards down, "Well.. I think I'm done playing, actually. I'll see you guys later.."

"O-Okay.."  
====  
_Blake sat in a mostly empty interrogation room late at night, lost in thought._

_"Well..." Ozpin started as he entered the room, "This has certainly been an eventful evening."_

_Blake looked up from the table._

_"I'm sure that after a night of thwarting attempted robbery you probably just want to go home and take a nap, but..." he sat down, leaning his cane against the table, "I was hoping that maybe we could have a chance to talk."_

_"Of course," she nodded, a little nervous._

_"Wonderful!" he laid his arms on the table, "As you know, in order to enroll at my academy, most students must first pass a rigorous entrance exam, or be recommended to by enough high rank officials, among other means.." he raised a hand, "Most applicants spend years of preparation training at one of the many combat schools around the world..." he motioned at her, "You are one of the few who did not. And you passed the exam with flying colors."_

_"I grew up outside the kingdoms. If you can't fight, you can't survive," she answered rather immediately, as if rehearsed._

_"Well you have most certainly survived, Blake. I admire your drive. And I am proud to run a school that accepts individuals from all walks of life," he started counting on his fingers, "Rich, poor, human... faunus."_

_Blake glared a bit._

_"Why do you wear that bow, Blake?" he asked, gently, "Why hide who you are?"_

_"You may be willing to accept the Faunus, Professor Ozpin, but your species is not."_

_"True.. but we are continuing to take strides to lessen the divide," he said, holding the top of his cane._

_"With all due respect," she cut in, "you need to start taking some larger strides... Until then, I'd rather avoid any unnecessary attention," she held her hand to herself, "I want people to see me for who I am.. not what I am."_

_"And who are you?"_

_She looked away, "I... don't understand what you're asking."_

_"How did you know that the White Fang would be at the shipyard tonight?" Ozpin asked, leaning forward._

_"I didn't..." she glanced at the floor, "I just happened to be at the right place at the right time."_

_Ozpin grinned, "You wouldn't have been the first..." he sighed, "But what happened tonight was not an isolated incident. I may be your headmaster, but I am also a Huntsman... And it is my sworn duty to protect this world from the forces that conspire against it."_

_He looked at her over his glasses, "Blake... Are you sure there is nothing else you would like to tell me?"_

_She nodded, "I'm sure."_

_After a moment, Ozpin nodded back, "Very well," he got up, grabbing his cane, "Thank you for your time, Ms. Belladonna. But just remember that, if you ever need to talk to me... please don't hesitate to ask."_

The sound of the door opening snapped Blake out of her trance. Ruby, Pyrrha and Yang walked into the room.

"Ugh, I knew I shouldn't have let you play!" Yang jabbed Pyrrha's shoulder.

"You kept having bad rolls, how is that my fault?" Pyrrha asked.

Ruby noticed Blake starting to head for the door and jumped in front of her, "Blake?"

"Ah.. I was just.."

"I know being quiet and moody and stuff is just how you are, but you being more so than usual," she gave a worried look, "Is something wrong?"

Blake sighed, "I just.. I don't understand how everyone can be so calm."

"Are you still thinking about the White Fang and Torchwick?" Pyrrha asked as Yang side stepped a little.

"All of it!" Blake exclaimed, "Something big is happening and no one is doing anything about it!"

"Ozpin told us not to worry," Yang said, leaning back against the desk behind her, "Between the police and the Huntsmen, I'm sure they can handle it."

"Well I'm not!" she stomped her foot, "They don't know the White Fang like I do. They're planning their next move, right now, and none of us know what it is!" she pointed out the door, "They aren't going to wait around for graduation day and I don't want to wait around for them to attack!"

Ruby took a breath, "Okay!" she turned to the other teammates, "All in favor of single-handedly bring down a corrupt organization conspiring against the kingdom of Vale say ' 'aye' '!"

Pyrrha raised her hand, smiling, "Aye!"

"Yes!" Yang cheered, pointing at Blake, "I love when you're feisty!"

Suddenly, the door opened and team Rowan poked their heads through, "Can we come too?" Nora asked.

"Yes, we would like to help," Ren said, keeping his eyes covered.

"Nobody liked an eavesdropper!" Ruby cried, but then nodded, "But, yeah, we're could use the help!"

Blake grinned, "Alright then. We're in this together."

Weiss nudged Ren, "They're decent."

He looked up, "Oh."

Ruby gasped, "I forgot the board game in the library!"

Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose, "We're doomed."

She dashed out of the room, "I'll be right back!" Right as she said that, she ran into somebody, falling back, "Ooh, sorry.. Are you okay?"

Emerald, now in a black uniform, held out her hand to help her up, "I'm fine. Just watch where you're going."

Ruby laughed awkwardly as she took her hand and pulled herself up, "Right.. I'm sorry.. I'm Ruby! Are you new here?"

Emerald stepped to the side as Cinder, also in a black uniform, walked forward, "Visiting from Haven, actually."

Ruby squinted at her, looking over her face. Cinder continued to grin at her.

"You.. look familiar," Ruby said.

Cinder blinked then started pushing Emerald and Mercury down the hall, "Oh, well I'd love to chat about it, but we have to get to our room before curfew!"

Ruby watched the scurry down the hall, "Oh, welcome to Beacon!"  
====  
The next day, after classes, teams Ruby and Rowan were gathered inside the RPBY dorm looking over the map of Beacon and the surrounding city.

"Alright, so let's over the plan, one more time, to make sure we all remember it," Ruby pointed at a large building on the map, "Weiss, Pyrrha and I will head to the CCT and check the Schnee records for any other Dust robberies, more eyes looking will make it faster. And since Weiss is a Schnee, it should be even easier."

"The White Fang has regular faction meetings to hand out orders and recruit new members. If me and Velvet can get in, I can hopefully find out what they're planning," Blake said, smiling at Velvet.

Yang crossed her arms, "I have an old friend on the shady side of ton that typically knows everything going on in Vale. Getting information out of him shouldn't be too hard, especially with Ren and Nora acting as my back up."

"Great, then we'll meet up here," Ruby pointed at a street on the map, "to go over anything we've found," she raised her fist, "Let's do this!"

"Yeah!" everyone cheered.

"Oh, wait, sh!" Ruby corrected, "Secret investigation!"

"yeah..!" everyone cheered, quietly this time.  
====  
A bit later, outside a giant tower that was the Valish CCT building, Ruby and her group walked up the steps towards the entrance.

"Wow! I forgot how big the transmit tower looks in person!" Ruby awed, tail wagging in excitement.

"You should see the one in Mistral," Pyrrha said, "It has been wrapped in nature, to the point you can't tell where the trees end and the steel begins, yet it hasn't lost any of its functionality. As if nature has fully embraced its presence."

Weiss nodded, seemingly lost in thought.

"Weiss?" Ruby called.

"Huh? Oh," she blushed a little, "Sorry.. I suppose I've been a little distracted."

Ruby gave a smug look, "Iiiisss it Velvet?"

"What? No!" Weiss blushed harder.

Pyrrha poked her, "Ooh, it is! Ms. Schnee, the scandal."

She swatted her away, "Stop."

"So, going to the bakery is a date? That's adorable," Ruby snickered.

"No!... Maybe??" she crossed her arms, pouting, "It doesn't matter.."

Pyrrha gasped, "Doesn't matter?! Weiss Schnee, it certainly matters if you don't want to make a fool of her when she goes to kiss you!"

The heiress's face was practically glowing red, hands out in embarrassment, "Oh. My god! I meant right now! We're supposed to be investigating!"

"Yeah, of course," Ruby nodded.

Weiss huffed and matched towards the building.

"..." she grinned, "So is it the accent or the abs-" And just like that, Ruby was blasted backwards by a gravity glyph, knocking into someone.  
"Oof, I'm sorry, I'm hitting so many people late-"

Penny grinned, more normal this time, "Friend Ruby!"

"Penny!" she cheered.

"Hello again!" Pyrrha waved as she walked up to her.

"Where have you been?" Ruby asked, "We haven't seen you in any of the Vacuo dorms!"

"Oh, that is because I'm from Atlas!"

"Atlas?" Pyrrha repeated, crossing her arms, "But they just got here. Why were you so early?"

Penny shook her head, "I'm not sure," she hiccupped, "I'm sorry, but I must be going now!" she turned on her heels and started walking back the way she came.

Pyrrha and Ruby looked at each other for a moment before following her.

Weiss looked back before going through the door and took a breath, her face returning to its natural hue, "Dolts.."

Ruby dashed in front of Penny, "Is everything okay?"

"Of course!" Penny hiccupped again, then looked worried at her and Pyrrha.

"Penny," Pyrrha started, resting a hand on her shoulder, "It just doesn't seem like it is. You can talk to us, as your friends. We promise to keep it to ourselves."

She sighed, then looked around, "It.. isn't safe to talk here."

Back with Weiss, she walked into the elevator in the back of the entrance.

{[Hello! Welcome to the CCT. How may I help you?]}

Weiss leaned closer to the terminal, scroll in hand, "I'd like to go to the Atlas Communications Room, please."

{[Absolutely! Could you please display your scroll to the terminal to verify your identity?]}

She held it out and a small green light scanned the screen for a few seconds before giving a confirming beep.

{[Perfect! Thank you, Miss Schnee!]}

Weiss took another breath, working on a convincing smile as the elevator went up. After a minute, it stopped and the doors opened, allowing her through.

She walked up to the desk, to a holographic assistant.

{[Welcome to the Beacon Cross-Continental Transmit Center. How may I help you?]}

"I need to make a call to the Schnee Company World Headquarters in Atlas," she said, clear and precise.

{[Absolutely!]} There were a few beeps as the hologram moved to mimic an actual person, then looked up at her. {[Head over to terminal three and I'll patch you through.]}

Weiss bowed a little, "Thank you."

She walked further into the room, mentally counting the terminals until she came up to the correct one and sat down in front of the screen. A woman appeared on it.

{Thank you for calling the Atlas-Oh! Miss Schnee, good afternoon!]} She smiled, {Would you like me to patch you through to your father? I think your sister might be here as well.}

Weiss shook her head lightly, "No thank you. I was actually wondering if you could find some files for me," she put her scroll into a slot on the desk, "I've compiled a short list."

The woman looked at the corner of her screen, then gave a puzzled look, {I see.. If you don't mind, what may I ask this is for?}

She shrugged, "School project."

{Hm.. There are some sensitive documents on this list, ma'am.}

"Well then I'll be sure to treat them with care," she smiled, losing a bit of her confidence.

{Right. Very well.} The woman tapped a button and a green light washed over the screen of Weiss's scroll, {The data is being transmitted to your scroll now..}

"Wonderful. That will be all then!" Weiss said as her scroll was automatically dislodged from the slot.

{Are you sure you don't want me to patch you through to your father before you go?}

"Yes, I'm sure!"

{Well then.. Have a nice day!}

The screen faded out and Weiss took her scroll, looking at it a bit nervously.

Meanwhile, Ruby and the other two were walking down the street.

"I wish I could help you," Penny said, "But I don't know anything about those men!"

"Well, what happened to you that night?" Ruby asked, "One minute you were there, nearly crushing my friends' spines, then poof, you're gone!"

"I've never been to another kingdom before, my father asked me not to venture out too far but..." she looked up to see Ruby and Pyrrha both concerned, "Oh, you have to understand, my father loves me very much! He just worries a lot.."

Ruby nodded, "Believe me, I know the feeling."

"But, if you were okay, why not let us know?" Pyrrha asked, "We were all on school grounds."

"I... was asked. Not to talk to you," Penny struggled a little to say, "Or anybody really."

The two stopped, Pyrrha shook her head, "Okay, that is really not good."

"Was your dad really that upset?" Ruby shrunk a bit, worried.

"No, it wasn't my father..." Penny started, but their attention was grabbed by a crowd surrounding a stage.

A hologram was General Ironwood paced the stage, {[The AK130 has been a standard security model of Remnant for several years. And they have done a fine job, wouldn't you agree?]}

The crowd applauded as the steel soldiers bowed, their joints creaking.

{[But, the kingdom of Atlas is a kingdom of innovation. And fine, well that's just not good enough is it?]} he continued as the storage units behind the soldiers opened, revealing taller, sleeker white coated robots, {[Presenting, the Atlesan Knight 200!]}

The Knights knocked over their previous versions as the crowd gave another round of applause.

{[Smarter, sleeker and admittedly, a little less scary,]} Ironwood shrugged as the Knights did a variety of poses, a couple looking kind of silly, {[These models will become active later this year but they won't be alone. Now, the Atlesan Military has always supported the idea of removing men from the dangers of the battle field.]}  
He stepped back, {[However, there are still many situations that undoubtedly require, a human touch.]}

"Ruby..." Penny called as said girl watched in excitement.

Pyrrha looked at her, "Is something wrong, Penny?"

{[So our kingdom's greatest minds, in cooperation with the Schnee Dust Company are proud to introduce,]} his hologram was over taken by a larger one, a tall mecha suit with the Schnee logo on both arm guns, {[The Atlesan Paladin!]}

"Ruby.. Pyrrha.." Penny backed up, grabbing Ruby's attention, "Maybe we should go somewhere else..."

She shook her head and ran off, and Ruby turned to see two Atlesan soldiers running towards them. Ruby grabbed Pyrrha's arm and the two went after her.

Turning into an alleyway, Pyrrha tossed a trash can at the closest soldier with her semblance as she followed behind Ruby.

Crossing another street, they barely missed getting hit by a car, and the other soldier simply jumped over the hood.

Ruby looked behind her, seeing Pyrrha behind her and the soldiers quickly catching up, not being able to knock over the convenient tower of crates without losing Pyrrha she stopped just long enough for her to catch up before cutting it down.

Pyrrha reached out to pull the surrounding bins and trash cans to block Penny, but instead yanked the girl herself back, "Whoa!"

Losing her focus from surprise, Penny was thrown face first across the pavement.

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha said, running up to her, "I wasn't expecting _you_ to be effected by my semblance like that, I-"

"N-No! It's fine! I'm fine!" Penny hiccupped, not looking at the two, "You should go, before they catch up."

Ruby jogged up to the two, "Penny?"

She moved to get up, but while she was still covering her face so she stumbled forward. Ruby dashed in front of her and caught her.

"Penny, are you hurt?" she asked, gently holding Penny's wrist, "Please, if you're hurt, we can help!"

"No no no! I'm not! You just wouldn't understand, neither of you would!"

Pyrrha stepped up, exceptionally worried, "We can try! Whatever it is we promise not to think worse of you."

After a moment of silence, Penny nervously lowered her hands, revealing that most of the right side of her cheek had been torn, showing a metallic jaw. Ruby blinked, "Oh."

"I'm.. not a real girl.." Penny said, weakly.

Pyrrha and Ruby looked at each other for a second, then nodded.

"So this why your father is so worried?" Pyrrha asked.

Penny shook her head, "It's why Atlas is so protective of me. I'm the world's first synthetic person capable of generating an Aura," she frowned, looking down at her hands, which had the palms scrapped of most of the skin as well, "I'm not real."

Ruby gently held her hands, "Of course you are. You think just because you've got nuts and bolts instead of squishy guts makes you any less real than me?"

Penny looked between the two, confused, "I don't, um..." she leaned closer to her, "You're taking this extraordinarily well."

"You're not like those things we saw back there," she tapped Penny's chest, "You've got a heart. And a soul, I can feel it."

Penny smiled, and pulled her into a headlock sort of hug, "Oh Ruby! You're the best friend anyone could have!"

Pyrrha chuckled, "I can see why your father would want to protect someone so.. delicate."

Penny let go of Ruby, who fell to the floor, "Oh, he's very sweet. I'm sure you would just love him!"

"Is he okay with how you're being treated?" Ruby asked, sitting up.

"They're not sure if I'm ready yet.." Penny said, getting up, "One day, it will be my job to save the world. But I still have a lot left to learn.." she helped Ruby up to her feet, "That's

why my father let me come to the Vytal Festival. I want to see what it's like in the rest of the world, and test myself in the tournament."

"What are you talking about?" Pyrrha asked, "We're in a time of peace, there's nothing to save the world from."

Penny shook her head, "Mr. Ironwood wouldn't tell me what it is either.."

Suddenly, someone knocked over a crate, "I think I hear her over this way!"

Penny gasped, grabbing Ruby, "You two have to hide!"

Ruby squirmed as Penny lifted her up, "Wait, Penny! I can just ru-" Before she could finish, Penny tossed her up and onto the nearby roof, "Ow."

"No, no! You really don't have to thro-AH!"

Ruby yelped as Pyrrha landed on top of her, "Gah, my ribs."

"There she is!" one of the men called.

"Salutations, officers!" Penny responded.

"Oh my god, what happened?" another man asked, "Did those girls we saw do this to you?"

"No, no. They just happened to be going the same way as me," she hiccupped, "I hear officers are very scary when they seem to be chasing you."

Ruby squinted as she trying to listen closer, Pyrrha wasn't really paying attention taking this opportunity to watch Ruby.

".. She has a point. The helmets do freak some people out."

The other man sighed, "Come on, then. And try to keep that scratch covered until we get back. You're father isn't going to be happy about this."

"Yes, sir!"

Ruby exhaled, "Thank Dust.." she looked at Pyrrha, who was smiling a little, "You can get off me now."

"Oh! Right! S-Sorry!" Pyrrha scrambled a bit as she moved over, blushing.  
====  
A few hours later, Yang sped down an empty road on her motorcycle, Nora holding onto her. She took a sharp turn and parked in front of a warehouse looking building. Ren was already there.

"What? How did you get here so fast?" Nora asked.

He glanced at an alley where a motorcycle was haphazardly laying, "...Walked."

"Anyway, my friend's right in here," Yang waved off, walking up to the door.

Nora looked over the building, "And this is?"

Meanwhile, inside the building was full of loud music and red neon lights, do to it lacking guests and only being full of employees they must've just opened for the night.

Suddenly, a couple guards ran through the doors and slammed them shut behind them, "Brace yourselves! She's coming!"

The only man not wearing a hat looked up from the bar, "What? Who-"

The door exploded, knocking the guards over as Yang stepped through, "Guess who's back!"

About twenty men rushed forward, aiming their guns at her. The DJ in the back turned of the music before ducking under his booth.

Nora leaned out from behind Yang, "Friends huh?"

Ren stepped from behind them and looked over the men, "Hoo boy."

"Stop! Stop! Nobody shoot!" Junior said as he shifted through the group, "Blondie! You're here. Why?"

"You still owe me a drink," she said as she dragged him down the stairs.

A set of twins were suddenly next to Ren and Nora, "Hey~"

They both waved.  
====  
Somewhere on the other side of the city, Blake and Velvet walked down the alley between to shipyard buildings. Blake untied the bow around her ears once they saw a White Fang member greeting Faunas.

Velvet looked over the mask Blake handed her, "I just don't get why you wear masks like these.."

"The masks are a symbol. Humanity wanted to make monsters out of us, so we chose to don the faces of monsters," Blake said, looking at the mask.

Velvet blinked, "I was.. actually talking about the eye slits.." she put it on, "It's hard to see through them.."

Blake shrugged, putting hers on.

The pair walked into the large room at the end of the hall, which was practically filled to the brim with Faunus of varying ages. They moved to the right side with the new recruits just as a burly man with arm tattoos and a full face mask walked on to the platform.

"Thank you all for coming," he said as he paced, "For those of you who are joining us for the first time tonight, allow me to introduce a very special comrade of ours."

He motioned to his side as Roman stepped onto the platform, "I can assure you, he is the key to obtaining what we have fought for, for so long."

"Thank you! Thank you! Please hold your applause," Roman chuckled as the new recruits jeered at him.

"What's a human doing here?" a deer faunus shouted.

"I'm glad you asked," he grinned, "Now, I'm not the first here to admit, humans are the WORST," he pointed to himself, "So I understand why you would love to see us all locked away, or better yet: killed!" he waved his cane out, "But! Before all the claws and teeth.. and various other sharp things being you might have given you, I would like to mention the fact that you and I ALL have a common enemy. The ones in control, the people pulling the strings, the dirty rotten humans that run our kingdoms," he motioned his hands out, "Government, military, even the schools. They're all to blame for your lot in life!"

Blake and Velvet look at each other as the crowd cheered.

He shook his cane a bit, "And they're all pests that need to be dealt with. Fortunately, I'm the best exterminator around," he paused, glancing at the short woman on the back of the platform as she did a cutting motion at her neck, "No offense to any rodents in the room."

He snapped his fingers and two Faunus pulled down the trap behind him, revealing a mech suit with the White Fang logo spray painted over the Schnee ones, making the crowd cheer.

"Oh no, that's the Paladin, Weiss told me about these," Velvet whispered to Blake, "If they attack the city with this, a lot of people could die."

"How did he get that?" Blake asked, more like a statement.

"As you've all probably heard by now, this is Atlas's newest line of defense against all the scary things in the world," he stepped forward, "And thanks to my employer, we've managed to snag a few before the, uh, hit the shelves."  
He looked to the crowd of uniformed White Fang, "Now, many of your brothers have already moved down to our new operation in the south east. If you'd rather stay within the city, that's fine. Some of you have children, some of you are children. But if you are truly ready to fight for what you believe in, this is the arsenal I can provide you," he grinned, "Any questions?"

Everyone in the crowd cheered, save for Blake and Velvet.

"We should get out of here," Blake whispered.

"Will all new recruits, please come forward!" the man with tattoos called.

Velvet looked around for a way out as the recruits all hurried forward.  
====  
Meanwhile, back at the club with Yang, Junior slammed a cup down on the counter, "I don't know!"

"How can you not know?" Yang asked, arms crossed.

"I haven't talked to him!" he held out his hands, "I haven't even seen him since the night you first came in here. He paid upfront, I lent him my men," he straightened, "and none of them ever came back."

Yang glared at him, eyes fading into red.

"What more could I tell you? Torchwick hired my boys and I guess he wasn't happy with them!" he sneered over to the group of men trying to fix the doors, "Which is something I can relate to!"

Yang threw her hands up and walked towards the exit, "C'mon, Ren. Nora. We're leaving. Hopefully the others had better luck.."

Nora looked away from the twins and tapped Ren's arm, "I guess we're done here."

"Oh, leaving already?" one girl in white asked.

"Sorry, girls," Nora said, pulling Ren, "Guess it wasn't meant to be, right Ren?"

He sighed, "Maybe later..."  
====  
Velvet moved to the other side of Blake, "Hold on, I think he can see you."

Blake glanced at Roman, who was giving her a suspicious look, she quickly looked away. The two followed the crowd towards the back, Velvet carefully pulled something from her side pack, a vial of Dust in several shades of yellow and green.

"Velvet..?" Blake asked.

"As soon as I throw this, duck your head and go for the exit," she whispered.

Before Blake could ask anything, Velvet threw a vial as hard as she could at the nearby power box. The surge of energy caused the box to overpower the lights busting them in a bright flash and the sprinklers going off from the smoke.

Velvet and Blake scrambled to get through the temporarily blinded and panicking crowd, because night vision or no a bright flash followed by pitch black darkness will take a minute to adjust to.

"Traitors!" someone shouted, "Get them!"

The two ran out through an unlocked door and through the shipyard, followed by several White Fang members.

"Now what?" Blake asked, "You have a plan?"

"Yeah, just keeping running!" Velvet shouted.

Meanwhile, Roman was about to get into the mech when the short woman grabbed his pants leg, "What is it, Neo?"

She pointed at him, then lightly hit index and middle fingers against her palm.

He sighed, "You should have more faith in me."

She frowned, eyes turning brown.  
====  
A bit later, the rest of the group were gathered in a noodle shop, eating.

"Really, you got nothing?" Ruby asked, "Did anyone get anything, other than Weiss?"

"We got those twins' phone numbers," Ren said, holding up a card, "Does that count as something?"

"Heck yeah!" Nora said, giving him a high five.

Ruby laid her head on the table, "Oh, Blake's gonna be so disappointed."

"I think she'd be relieved that there's not a lot out of the ordinary.." Weiss said, looking over her scroll.

Suddenly, Blake and Velvet crashed through the door and stumbled up to the groups table.

"Whoa, guys," Ruby said as Blake flopped over next to her, "You look like you ran a marathon."

Velvet gave a small nod as Weiss handed her a drink, which she practically chugged down.

"Yeah, we.. pretty much did.." Blake panted a bit, snatching Ruby's cup and taking a quick sip before putting it back, "So.. What did everyone find?"

Weiss smiled, holding up her scroll as everyone else shrunk a bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooo, this feels like the longest chapter so far, all these episodes just messed together too much to justify splitting it at any point.


	11. Extracurricular

Pyrrha swung Milo at Cardin, knocking his mace from his hand on the second strike. She turned, smacking Dove in the face with the side of Akouo before blocking a strike from Sky.

Cardin charged at her and she shifted Milo into a spear, swinging it upwards and knocking him off balance then hitting him in the stomach with the pole end. She turned, throwing her spear at Russel and sending him out of the ring. Pulling it back with her semblance, she turned to block another attack from Sky, Milo smashing into his face as it transformed into a rifle.

Dove charged back in passed Cardin just as Pyrrha fired at his legs, sending him tumbling forward. Cardin smashed his mace onto the floor, erupting it in flames which Pyrrha flipped over. Sky came back in as Cardin swung in. Pyrrha clenched her fists as she used her semblance to pull their arms, causing them to lose balance and run into each other. She vaulted off Cardin's back and threw Akouo at the back of his head, ricocheting off his and hitting a returning Russel in the face. She caught it midair and landed on a fallen Dove with a rocky crunch, meaning the impact broke the floor and not his spine.

She dashed forward, hitting Sky with the full face of her shield, knocking him back before she turned to kick Russel square in the jaw. Cardin swung his mace at her, missing and smashing the already falling Russel in the ribs, blasting him back in a burst of fire.

Suddenly, Glynda blew a whistle and the lights came on, "That's it!"

Cardin turned to her, "What!?"

"Dove's Aura is in the red, and you just hit Russel, sending him into the red as well," Glynda said, "This is the _fifth time this month_ you've done this. You need to know when to strike Mr. Winchester, not just how hard to."

He grumbled as the rest of his team picked themselves up.

Glynda nodded at Pyrrha, "Well done Ms. Nikos. Your record doesn't seem to be breaking anytime soon."

"Thank you professor," she gave a quick nod.

"Alright, now, normally we'd have time for a few more matches, but since a lot of things are happening this week, we have to cut this class short," she tapped the screen of her scroll, "Remember the dance is this tomorrow night, but you all have your first mission on Monday. I will not accept any excuses."

Ruby jumped up from her seat and dashed down the steps to Pyrrha. Blake looked up from her book to see Ruby hugging Pyrrha tightly, tail wagging furiously. She glared, slamming her book shut and started for the exit.

Yang watched her with a raised brow. After a minute, she got up to follow her.

"Ooh, drama~" Mercury teased, elbowing Emerald.

Emerald snickered.

Outside, Yang caught up to Blake, "Hey, Blake?"

"Hm?" she glanced back.

"You okay?" she asked.

"I'm.. fine."

She tilted her head, "Really? Cause the way you left tells me otherwise."

"I'm just-" she yawned, "-busy."

"Not too busy for the dance though, right?" Ruby cut in, suddenly behind Yang.

The other two jumped.

"What?" Blake asked.

"The dance! I mean, everyone's going, you know.." Ruby held her hands behind her, "It sounds like we'd all have fun."

Blake squinted at the word ' 'all' ', "I don't have time for a stupid dance. You can just hang onto Pyrrha, like usual, without me."

Ruby gawked a little as Blake walked off. Yang looked at her sister, worried, "Did.. something happen?"

"I.. I don't think so?"  
====  
A couple hours later, the rest of team Ruby cornered Blake in their dorm.

"What?" Blake shouted.

"We want you to go to the dance," Ruby said, gently.

"That's ridiculous."

Yang carefully grabbed her shoulder, "We're worried about you. I think this investigation is starting to mess with your head."

"You're not sleeping, you refuse to eat," Pyrrha started to list, "You're nearly blacking out half of the time."

"People's lives are at stake!" Blake motioned out the window.

Yang lowered her hand, "We know, but we're still trying to figure out what Torchwick is up to."

"Thanks to you and Velvet, we know they're operating somewhere out of Southeast Vale," Ruby said, "And that the Schnee records say Vale is the main target for Dust robberies over these past few months."

"And their missing Paladins.." Pyrrha said.

"But there's still unanswered questions," Blake pleaded.

"Blake, you won't be able to find anything if you can't even keep your eyes open," Ruby reached out, "All we want is for you to take one day off."

"Yeah, team Coffee is planning the dance," Yang grinned, "Meaning they're doing everything they can to make it a great night!"

"Yes, then we can all return to the search, fully rested!" Pyrrha smiled.

"So, what do you think?" Ruby asked, hopefully.

Blake closed her eyes for a moment, annoyed, "I think this is a colossal waste of time."

She pushed passed them, she looked back at Ruby with a tinge of regret as she opened the door, "I'll be in the library.."

Yang sighed once Blake closed the door behind her, "Great."

"She can't keep going like this," Pyrrha said, looking at the others worried.  
====  
Later at lunch, everyone, save for Blake of course, was eating lunch. Ruby was laying her head on her hands, lost in thought while everyone else was chatting.

Yang looked over at her, "So, Ruby, have you picked out your dress yet?"

Ruby sighed, "What's the point? Who cares about the dance if Blake's not going?"

"You.. shouldn't let her ruin your fun, though," Pyrrha said, "Just.. Maybe someone was hoping to go with you!"

Yang sighed, getting up, "Well, I'm not letting Blake sit around making you sad. She's going, I'll make sure of that."

"Don't do anything illegal," Ruby snapped.

She rolled her eyes, stepping back from the table, "I'm not!"  
====  
In the library, Blake was reading at one of the computers occasionally typing. After a minute, someone flicked a paper football at her head.

She sighed, then went back to searching.

Another one hit her head, and this time Blake turned to see who it was. Yang waved at her, a dozen other paper footballs on the table next to her.

Blake got up and marched up to her, "What?"

Yang grabbed her wrist, "We have to talk," then dragged her out of the building.

She eventually stopped in a classroom and let go of her arm, "This should be good."

Blake crossed her arms as Yang sat on the teacher's desk, "Yang, if you're going to tell me to stop, you may as well save your breath."

"I don't want to stop," Yang said, "I want you to slow down."

"We don't. Have the luxury to slow down," she sneered.

"It's not a luxury, it's a necessity," she corrected.

"The necessity is stopping Torchwick."

"And we're going to. But first," she pat the desk, "you have to listen to what I have to say."

After a second of thought, Blake sat on the edge of the desk, "Fine."

"Back when Mom, Summer, died, Dad just kinda shut down.. At first, I thought it was just because _' 'My wife was murdered because I forgot to get eggs.' '_ And, I mean, that was a reason, but another one was.. Summer wasn't the first love he lost, she was the second. The first..." she slumped a bit, "Was my mom."

Blake's eyes went wide.

Yang gave a weak laugh, "He wouldn't tell me everything, but I learned that the two of them had been on a team together with Summer and Qrow.." she frowned, "And that she left me with him just after I was born. No one had seen her since."

After a small silence, Blake spoke up, "Why did she leave you?"

She sighed, "That question... Why? I didn't know the answer, but I was determined to find out. It was all I thought about. I asked anybody I could what they know about her."  
She got off the desk, "Then one day... I found something. What I thought was a clue that could lead me to answers. Or maybe even my mother," she turned to Blake, "I waited for Dad to leave the house and headed out. I must've walked for hours. I had cuts and bruises, was totally exhausted. But I wasn't going to let anything stop me. When I finally got there, I could barely stand. But I didn't care. I had made it."  
"And then I saw them. Those burning red eyes. There I was, a little girl too exhausted to even cry for help, about to add to the list of people my Dad lost, to the people _Ruby_ lost."

Blake looked down.

"But, as luck would have it, Qrow showed up just in time.." Yang held her arms, "My stubbornness should've gotten me killed that night."

Blake got off the desk, "Yang... I'm sorry that happened to you, and I understand what you're trying to tell me, but this is different! I'm not a child and this isn't just a search for answers-"

"But you're letting the search control you. We're going to find that answers we're looking for, Blake," she motioned at her, "But if we destroy ourselves in the process, then what good are we?"

"You don't understand! I have-"

Yang's eyes immediately turned red, "No, you don't understand! If Torchwick came through that door, right now, you'd lose! You can't stop him like this!" she pushed her, making her stumble back onto the desk, "You can't even hold your ground."  
She pulled her into a hug as she started to get off the desk, "I'm not asking you to stop. Just to get some rest.." she let her go, "If not for yourself, then for the people you care about."

Blake watched her as she walked up the stairs to the exit.

"And, while you don't have to go to the dance tomorrow," Yang said, stopping at the middle of the stairs, "I know we would love to see you there," she winked, "Especially Ruby."

Blake looked at the floor and sighed.  
====  
That night, Pyrrha and Ruby were working on their weapons in the school smithy.

Ruby unscrewed a joint on her scythe and the blade came loose, hitting the ground with a loud clang. Pyrrha looked at her, surprised.

Ruby glanced at her, then at the blade, "Oh.." she pulled it up and leaned it against the table, "It's fine."

"Ruby, are you okay?" Pyrrha asked, laying Milo on the table, "You're never that careless with Crescent Rose."

"I know, it's just.." She sighed, "It's.. Blake."

Pyrrha gently grabbed her shoulder, "Do you.. want to talk about it?"

Ruby put what was left of her weapon down, "I was really looking forward to going to the dance with her.."

Pyrrha frowned for a second, before forcing a smile, "I mean.. You could ask someone else to go..?"

Ruby blinked, "No, I mean like, as a team. I was hoping we'd all have fun at the dance. Not like, go with her, go with her."

"I see.." Pyrrha smiled, hopefully, "..ssooo, there's still an opening for your date?"

She looked away from her, "Uh.. yeah, but I don't think anyone would want to."

"I wo-"

Suddenly, there was a burst of light in the back of the forge, soon followed by a bulky man covered in soot leaning out the back door, "Heyyy, um.. I have to close the forge for..." he looked into the room he was in, "Four hours? Yeah, so could you wrap this up for now and come back then? Thank you."

Ruby looked over the table, "Right..." she picked up her weapon blade and started screwing it back into place on her gun, "Well, you were saying?"

Pyrrha shook her head, "It's nothing."  
====  
Meanwhile, Weiss walked into the ballroom, seeing team Coffee decorating. She sped-walked to the end of the room where Velvet and Yatsuhashi were setting up the stereos.

"Velvet!" she called, trying and failing to sound calm.

She turned, "Oh, hey Weiss," she got up from the cords and looked at her friend, "I think that's good for now, Yatsu."

He nodded before walking away.

"So, what's up?" she asked.

"I was hoping.. maybe you'd like to be my date to the dance?" Weiss asked, suddenly too embarrassed to look her in the eyes.

"Oh?" Velvet tilted her head.

"I-I mean.. you.. at least, it seemed like you have been... A-And you called that whole dessert thing a date.. so.." she rambled, her face turning more red as she went on.

Velvet chuckled, "I'd love to."

Weiss straightened, "Oh, I.. Thank you! I'm looking forward to it then!"

"Hey, Velvet!" Coco called, "Get over here for a minute, I need something."

"Sure thing," Velvet gave Weiss a light head pat, "I'll see you then, Weiss."

She fidgeted a little, "Right. Well, I-I'll leave you to.. Whatever you have left to do!"

Once Velvet walked away, Weiss practically sprinted out of the room. She closed the door and smiled.

Ren leaned against the door frame, "Now was that so hard?"

She rolled her eyes, "Very funny," she grabbed his arm, "But know you have to help me pick a dress!"

"I already told you they look the same!" Ren said as she dragged him away.  
====  
Ruby walked into the team dorm, looking over Crescent Rose in its sheathed form. She laid it on the desk, letting it drop with a small thunk.

"Wow, you're never that careless with Crescent."

Ruby quickly turned, "Blake! I didn't notice you were in here," she looked her over, noticing she was in her robes, "Are you.. going to bed?"

Blake scratched her neck, "Yeah.. I.. Didn't want you.. guys. to worry about me. So I'm taking a break."

Ruby smiled, her tail wagging furiously, "Aw, Blake! " she jumped forward, grabbing Blake's arms, "That's great to hear!" she gave a somewhat serious look, "But that doesn't mean you have to go to the dance! I know we all were pretty insistent on it but-"

Blake chuckled, cupping the shorter girl's face, "I was actually hoping you'd save me a dance."

Ruby blushed, "Oh. Yeah! Of course! I'll save you a lot of dances even!"

"I'd like that.. But.." Blake glanced at the side, "Maybe.. save a few for Pyrrha? I think she'd appreciate it."

She nodded, "Definitely!" she jumped back from her, "Oh, I have to tell the others!"

Blake stepped to the side as Ruby dashed through the door in a flurry, a few seconds after she was gone Blake turned to the bathroom, "You can come out now."

Pyrrha slowly stepped out, "I... Thank you, Blake."

She yawned, "Yeah, yeah. Well, I got to get some sleep."

Pyrrha nodded a little then walked up to the dresser to get her own pajamas, "Good night."


	12. Dance Dance Infiltration

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the long wait, work and stuff.  
> Stuff being I don't like this episode.

That Sunday night, the dance was in full swing, everyone was chatting and dancing and Glynda was already throwing someone out for trying to spike the punch.

Pyrrha sat at one of the tables, watching people dance and talk. She sighed, realizing coming before the rest of her team was a bad idea as she had nobody to do the same with.

Suddenly, someone sat next to her, "No date?"

She turned her attention to them, "Oh, hey Ren."

He gave a small nod, "Pyrrha."

"Where's your date..s? I know I saw you and Nora come in with those twins."

"Well," he motioned a hand at her, "I saw you sitting here all alone and wanted to check on you."

Pyrrha smiled, "Just got her before my team is all! You know how much I like to be punctual!"

There was a small bit of silence for a moment before he spoke up again, "So.. How's things with Ruby?"

"Why?" she asked, surprised.

"Well, I mean," he motioned out, "She's had to have noticed by now!"

Pyrrha clenched her fists as she took a breath, "You.. would be surprised."

"Surprised about what?" someone asked.

The two looked up to see the rest of team RPBY, Pyrrha sat up, "Oh, uh.. How little I actually like cereal!"

Ruby tilted her head a bit, "Really?"

"You have such boring conversations, Ren," Yang said.

"Right.." he got up, "Well, I'm going to go loiter," he looked at Pyrrha, "Have fun."

Ruby rocked on her heels a bit as he passed by, leading Pyrrha to notice her shoes, "What happened to your heels?"

"Coco saw me stumble and just-" Ruby waved her hands a bit, "-ranted a bit until I agreed to take her emergency pair of flats. Weird that she has an ' 'emergency' ' pair, but whatever I guess."

Pyrrha shook her head a bit, "Anyway, don't let me keep you, go dance, I'm fine."

"Actually.." Ruby held out a hand, "Would you dance with me?"

Pyrrha looked at her hand for a short moment before taking it as she got up, "Of course!"

As the two walked towards the dance floor, Yang raised her hands to her face to shout something. Luckily, Blake covered her mouth before she could, "Don't, you'll ruin it."

Yang rolled her eyes as Blake dropped her hand, "Well, now what? I can't really dance to this sort of stuff."

"Hmm," Blake shrugged, "Sit around and wait for those edm remixes of hip hop you listen to come up?"  
====  
Emerald and Mercury looked over the crowd from the back of the room.

Mercury shook his head, "God, all of this standing around is boring."

"You could dance with somebody, I'm sure someone would be willing," she shrugged.

"Nah, I've got two left feet," he kicked out his right leg to show he indeed had two left feet, "See?"

"Oh Dust, she still hasn't gotten that corrected?"

"Implying Cinder actually cares."

She glared, "Hey, she doe-" suddenly, her ear piece pinged and she tapped it, "Yes, ma'am?"

{I'm leaving, is anyone watching me?}

Emerald looked out into crowd again, "No."

{Good, but keep an eye on that Ruby, I can't have her completely recognizing me.}  
====  
Pyrrha watched her feet as she danced with Ruby, like she's never danced before.

"Are you okay?" Ruby asked.

"Oh? Yeah-Yes, I'm fine.." Pyrrha straightened a bit, "I'm just a bit.. out of practice."

"You're fine. I'm surprised I haven't stepped on your feet myself!"

The two laughed a bit, then Ruby saw someone heading for the exit from the corner of her eye. They looked around the room before going through the door.

"Is something wrong?" Pyrrha asked.

After a second or two of thought, Ruby shook her head, "Nah, it's nothing."

"Soo.." Pyrrha started as the song chanced to a different waltz, "You said earlier you wanted to come here with all of us. Does.. that mean you don't have anyone your interested in?"

"I mean.." Ruby shrugged, "Who am I going to ask? I don't think anyone I know would go out with me."

Pyrrha opened her mouth to speak but quickly shut it and looked away, tensing a bit. That left them in an uncomfortable silence until Ruby finally let her go, "I.. Is it okay if I stop and drink something?"

"Oh. Yes, that's fine! I," she glanced around, "Need some air myself, it's really warm in here!"  
====  
Meanwhile, Cinder was now in a catsuit and mask outside the CCT, not sure why though since she won't actually be sneaking in. She snuck up behind a guard at the entrance and smacked the back of his neck with the side of her hand, making him topple over.

She turned and walked through the door, quickly grabbing the attention of a nearby guard.

"Excuse me, ma'am. You shouldn't be here, we're closed," he reached for his gun when she continued to come closer, "Stop!"

At that, she charged forward, dodging bullets, before grabbing the guard and twisting his arm under hers. She grabbed the guards pistol once she saw another one charge for her and shot him in the chest, then turned with the other guard in tow and threw him at the stairs.  
The two guards that just came out of the elevator charged at her, jumping over the fallen guard, their pistols shifted into security batons, surging with electricity.  
Cinder did a quick spin, surrounded by fire, and summoned two swords in her hands. She smashed the pommels into the side of the first gaurd, lighting him on fire and sending him into the air. Then sliced over the second's chest and again at his calves, knocking him to the floor. Then first guard charged back in, still a bit on fire, and swung at her, which she blocked. She kicked out at his stomach then did an unnecessary front flip to kick him again in the face, knocking him out.

She stood up straight and headed into the elevator, tapping a button as the doors shut.

Several floors up and Cinder stepped out of the elevator, getting greeted by the VI assistant.

{[Hello there! I'm afraid we're closed right now and you need to leave immediately!]}

She continued to the VI's terminal and took out a usb. A second VI assistant appeared next to her, {[You don't have access to the terminals at this time, please leave immediately!]}

She forced open the port with a small dagger and pushed the usb into it, once it clicked into place the room turned read and the VIs vanished.

{[UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS IN PERSONNAL RECORDS ROOM A. EMERGENCY LOCKDOWN.]}

Cinder turned towards the sound of opening hatches and found several turrets on the walls aimed at her. She pulled her  from the terminal and dashed for the window as the turrets opened fire, unfortunately for her, she hit a force field right before the window. She looked up as it surged with energy right before getting shot in the face with what must've been pure lightning dust as static washed over her as she fell over.  
====  
Pyrrha leaned against the railing on the balcony, rubbing her temples.

"Everything okay, Pyrrha?" Yang asked as she walked through the door.

"Oh, yes, I suppose. Nothing's changed!"

Yang stepped up next to her, "Something tells me that's not a good thing."

"I just.. Can't say what I want to," she held her hands out a bit, frustrated.

"Well, what do you want to say?"

Pyrrha stepped back from the railing, "That your sister is cute. And kind. And just wonderful in general, I suppose!" she threw up her hands, "But Gods forbid I can just. Ask her out on a date! And make it clear that I want it to be a date!"

Yang fiddled with her hair a bit, "What's stopping you?"

Pyrrha paused for a second, before motioning over herself like it was obvious, "I'm _Pyrrha Nikos_? The Unstoppable? I have never lost a fight in my life? I'm the current mascot of Pumpkin Pete's and, if what my mother has been saying is true, about to have a cartoon I'll be expected to voice for on top of _everything else_ she insists I do!"  
She held her arms, "How would people react to it, if I started dating? In general, not just Ruby! There'd be countless magazines spreading lies, death threats she'd get from my ''totally normal and not at all disgusting'' fans- I knew someone whose boyfriend was sent cookies full of _needles_ because he was dating  her!"

"Yeesh, I mean," Yang scratching her neck, "How.. How do you know your fans would do that?"

Pyrrha stepped up to Yang and whispered something in her ear, Yang nearly gaged, "Dust! And he thought that was romantic?"

She laughed, "Yeah, and he was so mad when I told him no! Like, what else am I supposed to say to that?"

Yang shook her head, "That's dudes for you, I guess."

Pyrrha sighed, "I wish I could've just been normal, none of this would be a problem if I'd just lose a fight! Just once!"

Yang looked out over the garden, then she turned back to her, "Well, the tournament is coming up, maybe you'll get you butt handed to you by somebody!"

Pyrrha chuckled, "I suppose one could hope."  
====  
Ruby sat down next to Blake at her table, cup in hand, "Hey Blake."

"Hey," she sat up, "Done dancing?"

"Eh," Ruby shrugged, "Not really my thing I guess."

"I thought so, when I saw you two.."

Ruby sighed, "Yeah, that was.. just awkward? I feel like she wants to tell me something, but isn't for some reason?"

_"For Dust's sake, Pyrrha,"_ Blake said under her breath as she shook her head.

"Hm?"

She looked up, "Pyrrha-" she paused, conflicted, "-is.. probably not into.. dancing either."

Ruby squinted as Blake smiled weirdly.

Suddenly, Ironwood and a couple of police officers marched into the room, heading straight for Emerald and Mercury. Though, oddly, not a lot of people seemed to notice and kept dancing.

"Oh, that can't be good," Blake said as the two were lead out the nearest exit.

"I wonder what happened."

"Probably a bad prank, that Mercury guy looks like the shenanigans type."

Ruby laughed, "Yeah, that makes sense."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I took a drink every time I misspelled guard, I'd be Qrow.
> 
> Anyway, it bugged the heck out of me that the CCT was so lightly guarded despite being so important, so I tried to fix it.


	13. Field Trip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Hey, I'm not going to take a whole month to post a new chapter this time!"  
> *proceeds to take a month to do it anyway*  
> Whoops!

The next morning, in Ozpin's office, Ironwood was extremely angry.

"They are here, Ozpin! They got into the system!" Ironwood shouted, slamming his fist against Ozpin's desk.

"And you have her in custody," Glynda said, aggravated.

"She's not talking! And her teammates seem to genuinely have no idea she was doing this!" he extended his arms, "I need help to get any information on or even just involving her, anything!"

"And we're doing that, James," she cut in, "I felt she seemed familiar when you showed me her picture, and the fire your guards talked about also made me remember one of our students has had a run in with someone who might be associated with this woman."

At that, a light blinked on Ozpin's desk, he tapped it and the door opened, "Come in."

Ruby walked through the door, nervous, "Um, good morning! Sorry it took me so long to get her, the button for this floor looks a lot like the emergency open button!"

"Thank you for coming, Ruby," Ozpin smiled, "How are you feeling?"

"Ok, I guess?" Ruby shrugged, an awkward grin on her face, "I mean, I'm worried I won't be able to add anything to whatever is going on, but I hope I can."

"Thank you," Glynda said, "I'm sure anything would be better than nothing."

Ruby nodded, "Okay.." she laced her fingers together, "I.. know she would have something to do with Roman Torchwick and all the stolen Dust.." she paused to think for a second, "Aand he's working with the White Fang- or at least a part of it! So it's possible that this lady is involved with them too.."

"Yes, well, we're already hunting for Torchwick," Ironwood said, stroking his chin, "But I could increase the men looking."

"A-And! I think he said something about a hideout or base," she pointed back, "To the southeast. Just outside the kingdom."

Glynda squinted a bit, "Yet you didn't say anything when you fou-"

"Thank you for your cooperation, Ruby," he smiled again, "Why don't you spend some time with your team? You have a big day ahead of you."

"Anytime!" Ruby said, starting for the exit.

"And Miss Rose?" he continued, stopping her, "Please try to be discreet about this?"

She frowned, "Yes, sir.."

Once the door shut behind her, Ironwood turned back to Ozpin, "Well, there we have it. We send as many troops as we can to the southeast, find out exactly what's going on, and eradicate any forces that stand in our way."

Glynda, who was getting angrier with every word he said, stomped her foot, "Gods and Dust above, James! I know your dick is small, but this compensating is getting out of hand!"

 _"Glynda!"_ Ozpin shouted, surprised.

"I mean, why must your answer to everything be an excessive use of military bravado?"

"Thank you," Ozpin nodded, "And she's right. As much as I wish this situation to end as swiftly as possible, sending every able body we have at this is honestly going to scare the lives out of everyone left behind and you know how the Grimm get when there's a surge of negativity."

"I have served you faithfully for years," Ironwood stated, "But if you're seriously about to suggest we hold defenses and do nothing-"

"I am not!" Ozpin stood up, "But you are a general, James. And I want you to tell me, when you prepare for a war, who do you send first? The flag-bearer or the scouts?"  
====  
A bit later, in the RPBY dorm, the team were packing their bags for the trip.

"I think you did the right thing," Blake said, placing a jacket into her bag.

"I hope so," Ruby said, "I'd hate for everyone to get in trouble for that investigation.."

"I'm sure everything will be alright," Yang said, then perked up, "Oh! I know what'll cheer you up!" she rushed over to a box with holes in it in the corner of the room, "Dad sent us something! I have a feeling that I know what it is, but I figured we could open it together."

"Ooh, something from home!" Ruby rushed up next to Yang as she opened the box.

Suddenly a black corgi jumped out and knocked Ruby over, "ZWEI!!"

He ran around the room a bit before jumping onto one of the beds, Blake's. She gave him a small pat on the head before returning to packing.

"Your father sent a dog in the mail?" Pyrrha said, surprised, "That's not very safe for the poor thing.."

"Oh, don't worry, he does this all the time!" Ruby said, still laying on the floor.

Blake looked at Yang, "But we're going to be gone for a week, what was Taiyang thinking?"

Yang looked over the note left in the box, "I guess he didn't want to pay the petsitter this time around, he's leaving for a while. Going by his letter," she looked back in the box, "There's also about a month's worth of wet dog food and a can opener in here."

Ruby rolled over and sat on her knees, "I guess he didn't get our letter about the trip."

"Or just didn't read it," Yang said, glaring at the note.

Suddenly, everyone's scrolls went off.

"Ah! We're going to be late!" Ruby shouted, jumping up.

Everyone to scrambled to stuff their bags and run out the door, with Ruby stuffing Zwei into a backpack.

The group luckily reached the auditorium before the announcement started and stood in the back of the crowd. Everyone was talking amongst themselves, even as Glynda stepped up to the microphone.

"Quiet! Quiet, please!" Glynda called out, making most of the students go silent, "Professor Ozpin would like to share a few words before we begin."

She stepped to the side as Ozpin moved forward and started speaking, "Today, we stand together, united," he held up a fist, before motioning towards the sections in the crowd, "Mistral, Atlas, Vacuo, Vale.." he glanced at the smaller section full of white and purple clad faunus, "Menagerie. These five kingdoms of Remnant, on this day nearly eighty years ago, the largest war in recorded history came to an end. It was a war of ignorance, greed, and of oppression. A war that was about much more than where borders fell or who traded with who, but about the very idea of individualism itself.."  
"We fought for countless reasons, one of which being the destruction of all forms of art and self-expression, and as you are all aware that was something many people could not stand for," he shook his head, "As a result, those who opposed this tyranny began naming their children after one of the core aspects of art itself. Color. It was their way to demonstrate that no only would they refuse to tolerate this oppression, but neither would the generations to come. And it was a trend that has held to this very day. We encourage individuality, expressionism, and unity through diversity."

There was practically a uniform eye roll from the Menageran crowd.

"As I have said, today we stand together, united," he shook his head, "But this bond cannot exist without effort. Which is why today, while the rest of the world celebrates peace, Huntsmen and Huntresses will work to uphold it. As first-year students, you'll be tasked with shadowing a professional Huntsman or Huntress on a mission."  
Several screens flickered on against the walls of the auditorium.  
"Some of you will be taken out of the kingdom for several days, others may work within the walls for the rest of the week, but no matter which path you choose, remember to be safe, remember your training, and remember to do your very best."

Students either took a moment to applaud him or to pick a mission as team RPBY went over the plan.

"This is perfect!" Ruby said, struggling a little to keep a wiggling Zwei calm around all the people, "All we have to do is shadow a Hunter working in the southeast!"

"Yeah!" Yang pumped a fist, "We'll follow them around by day and give them the slip by night!"

"Yes, well, we should hurry before any of the missions get taken," Pyrrha said, motioning at the already crowded screens.

The group hurried to one of the least busy screens and Ruby tapped the screen, starting the search.

"Hm.. Route Guard, Bounty Work, Defense Check... " she tapped the screen again, "Search and Destroy! The abandoned city of Morse."

"Sounds good to me," Yang gave a thumbs up.

Ruby nodded, applying for the mission. It flashed blue [APPROVED].

They all nodded at each other before walking away.

Ozpin stepped up to them, "You girls need to take a mission before you go."

"We.. just did," Ruby said, pointing back at the screen, "Search and Destroy, in Morse."

He blinked, "Oh, it was so quick I didn't notice, apologies."

He watched the girls walk away as Glynda came up to him, "Glynda, why wasn't the mission in Morse blocked off from first-years?"

She gave him a somewhat confused look, "Because you put it on the first-years' board."

"Ah.. right."

Outside, team RPBY were looking for the Hunter they'd be shadowing when they spotted RWN loading up into a small airship.

"Hey, guys!" Ruby called as her team walked up to them, "How's it going?"

"Oh, it's fine," Nora said before turning to the rest of her team, "IT'D BE BETTER IF SOME PEOPLE KNEW HOW IMPORTANT PANCAKES ARE!"

"Only the essentials, Nora!" Velvet shouted back.

Nora rolled her eyes, "Anyway, we're heading to Aisel, Bounty Work."

"Oh, Aisel's a pretty well off place, what could've happened?" Pyrrha asked.

"Something, or someone, has been attacking the nearby farms," Weiss said, placing a case of Dust on top of the other bags, "Nothing too major."

Velvet crossed her arms, "Just remember to be careful anyway. I'd hate it if you got hurt."

"Your team is going after a horde of Deathstalkers, if anyone should be careful, it's you."

She laughed, "I suppose we'll just have to keep each other updated. Make sure to call me when you get there."

"Of course!" Weiss assured.

Ren poked his head out of the cockpit, "Hey, Falkner said to get off the ship before she takes you with us."

"Oh, right," Velvet hopped down from the ship as it's engines started, then turned to wave them off, "See you in a few days!"

Weiss waved back before the hatch closed and the airship lifted off.

Once the ship was far enough to not be heard anymore, Velvet turned towards team RPBY, "So what mission did you guys take?"

"Search and Destroy in Morse," Ruby said, "Looking forward to it!"

"Oh, Oobleck will be happy to hear that!" she held her hands together, "Not a lot of people are willing to do missions with him."

"Oobleck?"  
====  
"Why hello girls!" Oobleck cheered, "Who's ready to fight for their lives?"

The team looked at him, in varying levels of shock. Except Pyrrha, she raised her hand a bit with a smile on her face.

"Now I'm afraid those bags won't be necessary, girls," he started to pace around, probably trying to look professional, "as you have decided to shadow a Hunter on what is essentially a reconnaissance mission, I can assure you we will not be establishing a single base of operation! Rather we will be traversing several miles of hazardous wasteland and making camp in any defendable locations we may stumble upon. I've packed all our essentials myself provided the air course and readied the airship."  
He turned towards them, "Come now children, according to my schedule we are already 3 minutes behind schedule!" and then he dashed for the airship in seconds.

Ruby looked at her team, "Well alright then, looks like we're going to save the world with Dr. Oobleck!"

They all slumped a bit.

"Yeah, sneaking off might be a bit difficult."  
====  
A bit later, as everyone was riding the airship, team RPBY looked at Dr. Oobleck as he piloted the vessel. Because these things obviously need a pilot.

"I guess I just never saw you as much of a fighter," Yang spoke up after a second.

"I admit, I fancy myself more of an intellectual," he said, not looking away from the windshield, "but I can assure you, as a Huntsman, I've had my fair share of tussles."  
"Besides, given my expertise in the field of history, as well as my dabblings in the art of archaeological surveys, our dear headmaster saw it fit to assign me to this particular, assignment!"

"What does history have to do with this?" Pyrrha asked.

"What a preposterous question, my silly girl!" Oobleck shouted, "History is the backbone of society! And the liver!" he paused for a second, "And probably the kidneys if I were to wager."  
"The southeast quadrant outside of Vale is home to wild forests and deep caves. But, it is also the location to one of the kingdom's greatest failures."

"The city of Morse, an expansion of Vale," Yang cut in, a bit sad, "But in the end it was overrun by Grimm and fenced off from the rest of the kingdom."

"Correct! And now it stands abandoned, as a dark reminder."

"And a likely place for a hideout," Blake mumbled to herself.

After a few more minutes, Oobleck turned to land the airship in the middle of a highway of a large desolate city. Once the engines were off, the team and Oobleck hopped off the ship.

As they looked over the crumbled and incomplete buildings, Oobleck spoke up again, "Ladies, you still may be students, but as of this moment your first mission as a Hunter has begun. From this point forward you need to do exactly as I say. Do you understand?"  
He noticed Ruby's bag, "Ruby! I thought I told you to leave all your bags on the ship."

"But, uh, you hadn't told us to listen to you yet..." she shrugged, "So I didn't."

"She's not wrong.." he muttered, "Very well, Ruby, leave your bag on the ship."

"But I-"

"Young lady, what in the world could you possibly have in that bag that could be so important for you to bring it-"

Zwei poked his head out of the bag and barked.

"We're here to investigate an abandoned urban jungle teeming with death and hostility," Oobleck said, surprisingly serious, "and you brought, a dog?"

"I-uh.."

 _"Genius!"_ he cheered, snatching Zwei from her bag and knocking her over in his rush, "Canines are historically known for their perceptive nose and heightened sense of sound. Making them excellent companions for hunts such as ours!"

Zwei barked, wiggling excitedly.

Ruby sat up, smiling, "I'm a genius."

Pyrrha chuckled, shaking her head  bit.

"So," Blake started, "what are your orders, doctor?"

"Ah! Yes! Straight to the chase, I like it!" he carefully put Zwei down, "As you have been informed, the Southeast area has been marked as a hotspot for Grimm activity. Our mission, despite the Destroy part of the title, is to see if any of the Grimm have grown docile from the easy access to passive negativity."

Pyrrha looked at her team, confused.

"You know how some cemeteries have a patrolling Beowolf that never attack visitors?" Yang explained, "Those are called Church Grimm! A branch of elder Grimm that have lived a long time and for some reason stopped being violent."

Pyrrha put her hands on her hips, "Ah, that explains why I never heard of it, North Mistral cremates their dead then scatters their ashes into the wind, so we don't have cemeteries."

"Yes, and speaking of Grimm, there's one now," Oobleck cut in.

RPBY reflexively pulled out their weapons and turned to face the Beowolf walking alone.

"Stop!"

They glanced at him.

"Remember, there is a possibility that any of these Grimm are Church Grimm, and will not fight unless provoked!"

"So what now?" Ruby asked as they all relaxed.

"We wait, we track, we study. If this specimen has a pack, that would be even more advantageous- and there's the pack."

Several more Beowolves appeared, crawling out from the broken building, snarling a growling.

"Ah, aggression, these aren't docile," he stated, "And now they've seen us."

"I take it tracking is out of the question," Ruby said, lifting Crescent Rose up a bit.

"An accurate assumption, yes."

The Beowolves charged for them, snarling mad.

"Show me what you're capable of."

Ruby shifted Crescent Rose into it scythe form, lodging the blade into the concrete and ready to fire, "Cover your ears Zwei."

Zwei ducked his head down, folding his ears.

Yang charged for one of the oncoming Grimm and punched it in the jaw, the shot from her gauntlet knocking it into the road. She charged down the street with several Grimm on her tail. One left the group to attack Blake, who unsheathed Gambol Shroud as she jumped up off her shadow as the Grimm charged through it. She sliced through its back in the middle of a flip, using a second shadow to throw herself into another Grimm, cracking its mask with her heel.

Pyrrha launched Akouo into a nearby Beowolf, sending its stumbling into the other Grimm. Pulling her shield back with her semblance, she snapped a large portion of its mask off, and once she caught Akouo she charged at the others with Milo in sword form. She sliced through the crowd with barely any effort, the Grimm crashing into the road. Another Beowolf lunged at her from behind, but it was shot down by Ruby.

She pulled Crescent out of the ground and charged into the last group of Grimm in a flurry of rose petals. She hooked her scythe onto the neck of one of them and swung herself around it, shooting at the lunging Beowolves until the one she was hooked to finally dissipated into smoke. Using the last bit of momentum, she swung Crescent Rose overhead into the last Grimm, lodging the tip on the blade into its mask and breaking it in half.

The team gathered back up once all the bodies started to dissipate, Ruby turned to Oobleck, "Piece of cake!"

Oobleck picked up one of the broken masks and looked it over, "Yes, but by the looks of it, these were fairly young Grimm. Seeing as the marrow left behind is soft and breaks cleanly. I am certain that there will be older, hardier Grimm further in. So do not celebrate yet, if the Grimm further in did not adapt to more sorrowful negativity, these might just be the first bout of many!" he put the mask into his bag, "Shall we continue?"  
====  
Some hours later, a larger Beowolf took a running stumble at Oobleck as Yang punched shots into the back of its head while holding onto Milo lodged into its shoulder, "Just. DIE. ALREADY."

The Grimm tripped over, smashing its face into the pavement and skidding forward a few more feet before its backend flipped over it, sending Yang toppling to the ground.

The rest of the team caught up, exhausted. Pyrrha tripped a bit, "Gods. ABOVE!" she took a breath, "I can't-" at that, she fell over.

"Excellent work girls!" Oobleck praised as he put a bush branch in his bag, "Fortunately, there does seem to be signs of decreasing violent Grimm the further in we go. At this rate, we might not have to fight Grimm for the rest of the trip!"

"Any rate, moving on!" he turned and started to go further in.

Yang got up as Ruby and Blake helped Pyrrha back to her feet, "Hey, doc, you know I was actually looking forward to seeing a pro Hunter in action," she sneered, "Like _fighting_ , or at least _helping us_ fight?"

"Ah, but I am in action, scouring the ruins of this once great city for any signs of irregularity," he turned back to her, "Not every mission is filled with daring and heroism, girls."

Ruby rolled her eyes, "Then what's that? And the, like 50 other Grimm you refused to help with?"

"Remember, this is a job, and you all signed up for it. I do hope you understand that."

"Yes, Dr. Oobleck," she looked at Blake and Pyrrha, whispering, "Next Grimm attack, he's on his own."  
====  
Even further into the city, the team carefully walked by a patrolling pack of Beowolves, none of which seeming to pay them any mind.

"A lot of these guys here," Yang mentioned.

"Yes, they are a rather prevalent type," Oobleck said, before turning towards her, "Tell me Yang, why did you choose this line of work?"

"Huh?" she paused for a second, "Well, to fight monsters and sav-"

"No," Oobleck waved his hands out, "that is what you do, I want to know why you do it. The honest reason as to why you want to be a huntress."

"The honest reason?" she held out her hands, "I'm a thrill seeker. I want to travel around the world and get wrapped up in as many crazy adventures as I can. And if I help people along the way then that's even better," she shrugged, "It's a win-win, y'know?"

"I see."  
====  
A bit later, while studying a clawed tree, Oobleck glanced at Pyrrha, "And you, Ms. Nikos, a girl already earning a fortune doesn't really need a job like this. Why be a Huntress when you could've remained in sports fighting?"

Pyrrha turned to him, "Well, I..." she gave a small shrug, "just wanted to keep people safe!..?"

"Interesting."

The firing of a gun grabbed his attention and he turned to Blake as she picked up a small Nevermore mask, "And what about you, Blake? You seem to hold yourself with a sense of purpose."

"There's too much wrong in this world to just stand by and do nothing. Inequality, corruption, someone has to stop it."

He nodded, "Very well, how?"

"I... uh," she shrunk a bit, discouraged.

"Hmm.." he walked off.

At the fork in the road, Ruby was playing tug of war with Zwei. When she noticed Oobleck coming, she dropped the toy and Zwei started running in a circle.

She sidestepped away from Zwei a bit, "Sorry! Uhh, are we ready to keep going?"

"No, I believe that will have to do for today. It's going to be dark soon," he pulled his bag off his shoulders and threw it at Yang, "You three, set up camp in that building. Oh and please do make sure that there are no Grimm."

He turned towards them, "Your leader and I are going to secure the perimeter. Come, Ruby."

He went in a random direction and Ruby quickly followed, as did Zwei. The rest of them watched for a bit before headed into the building with confused and conflicted expressions.  
Oobleck lead Ruby to a guardrail at the edge of the city. The faint roar of a distant Grimm grabbed Ruby's attention and she sprinted up to the rail to see them.

"Whoaaa!" she awed, tail wagging, as a herd of elephant Grimm marched through the forest, "What is that? It looks awesome!"

"Those, my dear girl, are Goliaths. Grimm," Oobleck said as he looked over the beasts.

Ruby pulled out Crescent Rose and aimed it in the Grimm's direction, "Let's kill it."

Oobleck shook his head, "I'm afraid your sniper rifle will do nothing more than agitate a Grimm of that size."

"But, what if they attack us?" she asked, confused.

"Fret not, Ruby, those Goliaths are not concerned with us. Not every Grimm is mindless," he said, rather softly, "or rather, not every Grimm is still mindless."  
"The Grimm you see before you are all Elder Grimm, Grimm that has lived for undoubtedly hundreds of years, survived countless assaults on mankind, and have learned. They've learned that when they attack our borders, they're likely to die. And what we lack in strength, we make up for in will."

One of the Goliaths stopped and looked at them, or in their direction at least.

"And that killing one of us, will only bring more."

Ruby sheathed Crescent, "Then, why are they still so close to the city?"

"Because they still need negativity in order to survive. The only reason they've become Elders and not, say Church or Leviathan Grimm is due to the types of emotions they're exposed to. In the Elder's case, it's several kinds at once, mourning, anger, regret, fear. They know that as long as they stay, they have a source of energy."

Once the whole herd was mostly gone, Oobleck turned back into the city. Ruby looked at the Goliaths a bit longer before following him.

"Dr. Oobleck?" she spoke up.

"Mmhm?"

"I was wondering-"

"Wondering why I've been interrogating your teammates?"

She shook her head, "I was wondering.. Why did you want to become a Hunter?"

He motioned out, "Look around and tell me what you see."

"Lots of old buildings, uhh, empty streets.."

"I see lives that could've been saved," he turned and started down the street, "As a Huntsman, it is my job to protect the people. And although I am capable of doing it with traditional weaponry, I believe I can make a much larger impact if I do it with my mind."  
"As a teacher, I am able to take knowledge, the most powerful weapon of them all, and place it into the hands of every student that passes through my classroom. I look at this wasteland and I see lives that could've been saved. But I also see an opportunity to study these ruins and learn from this tragedy. And therefore become stronger."  
He smiled, "I am a Huntsman, Ruby, because there is nothing else in this world I would rather be."  
====  
Meanwhile, in a partially crumbled room, the rest of the team was sitting around a fire.

"I can't believe we didn't find anything," Yang said.

"We've always been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time," Blake poked the fire with a stick, "I guess we can't expect luck to always be on our side."

After a brief silence, Oobleck dashed in, "Ah, a textbook campfire!"

Ruby followed him in, "Fire!" she sat down in front of it and held out her hands to warm them, "Sssooo... warm..."

"Very good, eat your dinners and hurry to bed," Oobleck said, "We have a lot of ground to cover tomorrow and we'll need you to take turns keeping watch over our temporary abode, any volunteers for first watch?"

Ruby raised her hand, "Yo."

He dashed out of the room and Ruby stood up.

"Hey," Yang started, "did Oobleck ask you why you wanted to be a Hunter? I mean, what did you tell him?"

She squinted, "No, he didn't.. Weird. Maybe he forgot?"

Everyone looked at each other for a moment before starting to get settled. Yang handed out some bread while Pyrrha and Blake laid out the bed rolls.

Ruby sat in an opening of a wall, Zwei curled up next to her, while the others laid down.  
====  
Later, back at Beacon, Ironwood stood at the edge of the airship docks, looking over the city.

"Trouble sleeping?" Glynda asked, walking up beside him.

He rubbed his shoulder, "Arm was bothering me."

She rolled her eyes, "Yes, so you got out of bed, got fully dressed, and decided to come outside to stare menacingly out at the city," she gave him a concerned look, "What's wrong?"

"I've trusted him for years. We both have," he sighed, "I just.. I can't help but feel.. like he's keeping us in the dark."

"Don't be ridiculous," she said, softly, "You know very well that we are not the ones in the dark."

He laughed, "That makes it worse. I refuse to believe that a man I've trusted for so long would act so... passively."

"You're a good person, James. You've always done what you think is best for the people, even against strong protest. It's admirable," she held his shoulder, "But it's high time you stopped talking about trust and started showing it."

She looked out at the city, "Ozpin has experience that the rest of us lack. And I think that's something worth remembering."

After a bit of silence, Ironwood spoke up again.

"So why are _you_ still in your day clothes?"  
====  
Ruby yawned, watching a Nevermore fly by the building.

Blake walked up to her, "Getting tired?"

"Nah, just bored," she looked up at her, "Why? Is it time to switch?"

Blake shook her head, "Can't sleep."

Ruby nodded a bit, before scooting over, "Wanna watch with me?"

"Sure," she said, sit next to her.

After a bit of silence Blake spoke up again, "Oobleck got me thinking about why I'm here. What I'm hoping to accomplish."

"Equality, right?"

"Well, yes. But more on how I'm going to do that as a Hunter," she took a breath, "When I was in the Fang, Adam always assured me what we were doing would make the world a better place. But then it turned out that what he saw as a perfect future, wasn't for everyone," she opened her arms outward, "I joined the Academy because I knew Hunters were regarded as the most noble warriors in the world. Always fighting for good.. But I never really thought past that," her voice started to crack, "I never think past the first step! When I leave the Academy... How am I supposed to undo years of hate when I'm just.. Just some _glorified mercenary!?_ "

"I'm sure you'll figure it out.." Ruby shrugged, "You always have. You're not the kind to back out."

 _"But I am!"_ Blake insisted, "I do it _all the time!_ When Weiss learned I was a faunas, I didn't know what to do, so I was going to run even if you didn't help me. When the White Fang was starting to become like monsters, I ran!" she held her hands to her chest, "Even my semblance! I have to ability to leave a shadow of myself, an empty copy to take the hit while I run away."

Ruby was quiet for a moment, before looking out into the streets, "Remember when I lost my mom?"

"Yeah..?"

She grabbed Blake's hand gently, "The world was terrifying at the time, everything. Mom's dead, Dad's barely there, Yang's caught up in searching for her mom.. But you? You promised that it was going to be okay, that as long as you're here nothing bad will happen to me again."

"I wasn't really there for you for long though. Mostly letters and pictures.."

"But you came back! Out of all the places, you chose Beacon, knowing me and Yang were planning on coming here!" she smiled, "No matter what, you come back. When Weiss found out you're a faunas, yes, you ran-but you came back! You left the White Fang because they're going too far, but you're out here trying to stop them! Your semblance? Yes, you leave a copy to take the hit, but it's so you can come back and hit the problem where it needs it! You run, but only to face the challenge better than the first time!"

Blake sighed, "You just can't see the bad in people can you?"

"Nope!"  
====  
After an hour or so, Yang had taken over for watch and Ruby and Blake went to lay down.

Pyrrha turned over to lay on her stomach, "Ruby?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you.. know why you want to be a Hunter?"

Ruby looked up, thinking for a second, "I suppose I just want to help people. Be a hero? I mean, growing up I always had to have other people protect me, and I want to do the same for others now that I can."

"Oh.."

Ruby looked at her with a concerned expression, "Is something wrong?"

Pyrrha mumbled something into her pillow.

Blake sat up, "Pyrrha?"

"I-I'm not here to do anything," Pyrrha rambled, "My whole life has just been one thing my mother insisted I do after another. Being a Hunter thing is just another one of them."

"Why would your mom want you to be something so dangerous?" Ruby asked, "You're risking your life out here!"

"She was going to make me work in a local city, go back to being an undefeated champion of Mistral but with the fresh coat of paint of being something ''heroic''," she squeezed her pillow, "Just another notch in a gaudy belt I hate."

Ruby looked at the fire for a moment before turning back to her, "Why are you here and not at Haven then?"

"I ''accidentally'' accepted Ozpin's invitation instead of Lionheart's," Pyrrha grinned, "A happy accident, if you ask me, but my mother was furious."

Blake spoke up, "Well, you should've be allowed to figure your own life out. So she can eat a bag of dicks."

Pyrrha laughed.

Oobleck smiled as he watched them from his perch.  
====  
Some more hours later and a couple shifts later, the fire had died to embers as Pyrrha looked out at the streets.

"Zwei?.. ZWEI?" she heard Ruby call, she turned to see Ruby rushing out of the room. She picked up her weapons and rushed after her, careful not to wake the others.

Sneaking through the wreckage of a building, she quickly found Ruby.

"Zwei, this is a waste land," Ruby scolded her corgi, "You literally could've done that anywhere!"

He barked at her as she picked him up.

"What was that?" an unfamiliar voice asked, causing Ruby to back up behind the corner of a building.

Pyrrha hurried next to her, momentarily getting Ruby's attention, weapons ready.

Two White Fang members stepped out of the shadows a bit, one looked at the other as they glanced around, "What was what?"

He shrugged, "I thought I heard a Beowolf, or something like that?"

The other sneered at him, "Let's just finish our patrol and get back to base. This place gives me the creeps."

Ruby and Pyrrha looked at each other as the grunts walked away, before nodding and sneaking behind them at a safe distance.

After several more feet, the small group ducked behind a collapsed wall as the grunts came up to a surprisingly in tact building. A minute passed and Pyrrha peaked over the wall, once there was the sound of a metal door opening, she turned to Ruby, "They went in."

Ruby grinned, "This is it! This is it!" she cheered, quietly, then pulled out her scroll.

Then she scoffed, "Ugh, we're not that far from the CCT tower how do we not have a signal?"

She grabbed Pyrrha's hand, pulling her along, "Come on, we have to get the others!"

Halfway back from where they were, the street caved a bit, cracking. The two backed up, startled, but it sunk more and the area collapsed completely. One of Akouo's straps got caught on a metal bar in the concrete and she held Ruby's hand for dear life. Milo fell into the darkness.

She pulled up her arm, trying to maybe toss Ruby up, but couldn't. Zwei, who didn't get caught in the collapse, whined at them.

"I-It's okay, boy!" Ruby called, "Just get the others! We'll be fine!"

He barked then sprinted off as fast as he could.

"Ruby..?" Pyrrha looked down at her, scared, "I-"

Akouo's strap snapped and the two fell into the dark pit, screaming. They hit the metal floor at the bottom with pained grunts. Ruby sat up and looked over to Pyrrha, who was holding her shoulder.

"Are you hurt?" Ruby whispered.

".. Yeah, I'm not used to falling like that."

Ruby got to her feet, quickly- but also gently!- helping Pyrrha to hers. The two looked over their surroundings, surprised to see basically a whole other city.  
Suddenly, a nearby door swung open and three White Fang members charged through, ready to shoot.

"FREEZE!" one shouted.

"Where did they come from?" another asked.

Ruby and Pyrrha backed up a bit, Ruby stopping when her heel reached the edge. Pyrrha's hands shined black for a second before she hissed in pain and they stopped glowing.

"You two are a long way from home."

One grunt grabbed Pyrrha's arm, making her yelp in pain, "You two are coming with us."

"Hey, hands off!" Ruby punched him in the ribs.

Another one smashed her in the head with the end of his gun, causing her to fall over.

Pyrrha reached out for her, "Ruby!"

"The boss is going to want to see these two,"  a grunt said as he picked Ruby up by the shoulders.  
====  
Zwei charged into the base, barking in a panic. Startling everyone awake.

"Zwei..?" Yang called as Zwei yapped and whined.

"Where's Ruby? And Pyrrha?" Blake asked, looking around, worried.

"Grab your weapons," Oobleck said, hopping down from his perch, "They may be in trouble.

Back with Pyrrha and Ruby, the two were being dragged through the White Fang base as they were loading a train with crates and large metal devices.

One member dropped his side of a device, causing another to yell at him, "Hey! Are you tryng to blow us into the Moon?"

"Sorry..!"

Suddenly, the grunts dragging them around stopped.

"Hey, Boss!" one called, "We found something you might want to see!"

"Is it good or bad, Perry?" a familiar voice asked from inside the train, "Because let me tell you, I have had a day."

"Uh.. It's two girls.." Perry said, now unsure.

Roman looked out, and tossed his cigar, "Yeah, that would be bad."  
====  
Up on the surface with the others, they follow Zwei to the hole with Crescent Rose laying haphazardly on the ground.

"Oh no," Blake said, picking up the scythe.

Oobleck looked down the hole, "Oh my.." he turned to the others, "Of course! Of course ofcourseofcourse!!"

"What is it?" Blake shouted, holding Crescent tightly.

"How could I be so stupid!?" Oobleck shouted pacing around in a hurry.

"Dr. Oobleck, what's wrong?" Yang asked.

"Morse! Yes, an failed expansion of Vale that was inevitably destroyed by Grimm," Oobleck stated, "Previously home to thousands of people, working people commuting to and from the main city. Developed a subway system to the inner city."  
He made an expanding motion with his hands, "Grimm attacks increase, population now in danger now desperate to find shelter, city evacuates into metro tunnels and what do they find!?"  
He kneeled down and pointed at Zwei, "The southeast quadrant of Vale in known for wild forests and deep caves!"

"Doc, what are you saying?" Yang asked, both confused and scared.

He jumped up and grabbed her shoulders, "My dear, we're not looking for just an underground crime network! WE'RE LOOKING FOR AN UNDERGROUND CRIME NETWORK!!"

"They've been working in caves!?" Blake asked.

"No no! Morse was Vale's first serious attempt at expansion in these quadrant, it worked for a short period of time thanks to an aggressive perimeter defense and unique transportation. The city of Vale built an elaborate subway system to carry citizens from the new territory into the main kingdom. Sadly without many of the natural barriers Vale has to protect its borders Morse was doomed from the start."  
He turned towards the hole, "As the end drew near, the citizens of Morse made one last attempt at survival. They took up shelter beneath the city in massive caves they had cleared out for the subway, and they had cut themselves off from the surface."

"What, an underground village?" Yang asked.

"In a matter of speaking, yes. A safe haven, until," he looked down, remorsefully, "An explosion opened the mouth of another cavern, filled with subterranean Grimm..."  
He shook his head, "After that, the kingdom officially sealed off all the tunnels.. And Morse became the world's largest tomb."

Blake looked into the pit, worried, as Oobleck pulled out his thermos and it shifted into a bat.

"If they're down there, we must find them."  
====  
Ruby crashed into the dirt as Roman laughed. Pyrrha yelled, struggling against the grip of the Fang member containing her, her shoulder swollen a bit and red.

Roman dodged Ruby's attempt to hit him, "You know, Pumpkin, if you stopped fighting and trying to use your semblance, that arm might've healed by now."  
He laughed more, "Of course, we can just keep dislocating it. You're both just so much more manageable without your weapons and semblances."

He sighed, still grinning as he tapped his cane under Ruby's chin, "But seriously, how did you find this place?"  
"And don't try anything funny, or I'll have your girlfriend's arm ripped off."

Ruby growled.

There was an explosion in the distance, taking Roman's attention, "Perry, if you and your boys could take care of that-"

Another explosion, closer this time, shook the ground a bit. Roman turned, angry, "What is going over there!?"

A third explosion shook the caves, followed by several White Fang members running from a charging Oobleck and the rest to team RPBY.

"Oh, son of a b-Ack!" Roman yelped as Ruby dashed past him, snatching his cane and then turned, crashing into the grunts holding Pyrrha down.

She picked her up, bridal style of course, and ran for her friends.

"Somebody kill her!" he shouted and all the nearby grunts opened fire.

Roman sneered as nothing was hitting her and he turned to one of the commanders, "Attach this car and spread the word. We're starting this train."

Pyrrha looked back as Ruby ran, "They're getting on the train."

The fleeing White Fang ran past them and the group met up.

Ruby carefully put Pyrrha down before Yang and Blake nearly tackled her in a hug.

"Are you okay?" Blake asked.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Ruby insisted, "Pyrrha's shoulder is dislocated though, and Torchwick is loading all sorts weapons and robots on that train!"

"Well, we can solve one problem now!" Oobleck said, dashing behind Pyrrha and grabbing her arm.

"Wait, what are y-!" Pyrrha swore through her teeth as her shoulder was snapped back into its socket.

"Sorry! It would've hurt more if you were expecting it!" he said, pulling out a black shoulder brace and slipped her arm through it, looping the strap under her other arm, adjusting it as needed.

She raised the arm, turning slightly, "Well, it's better."

Ruby handed over Roman's cane, "Here, since I don't think we'll be finding Milo."

Pyrrha swung the cane with her uninjured arm, then gave a conflicted smile, "Thank you."

Blake handed Crescent Rose back to Ruby, "And the train?"

"It's ridiculous, these tunnels are sealed!" Oobleck said.

The intercom rang out, {Get to your places, we are leaving NOW!}

At that, the train started to move.

"Well, it sounds like they're going somewhere!" Yang said.

"Then there's only one option.." Oobleck said.

Ruby turned, loading her gun, "We're stopping that train."  
====  
A White Fang grunt stood in the opening in the last train car, with the door wide open which definitely isn't safe in anyway. He turned at the odd thud behind him and pulled out a walkie talkie, "I think there-"

Oobleck quickly smacked him in the head with his club, then looked around for others.  
They hurried out of that car and on top of the next.

"Alright girls," Oobleck started, "We have to get to the front of the train to stop it, or at least sever the cars it's pulling."

Zwei looked down the hatch and barked.

"Uh, Doc? What's that?" Yang asked, pointing inside at the large device sitting in the middle of the car.

"That, my dear," he kneeled, "Appears to be a bomb."

The girls stepped back a bit, all shocked. Ruby looked ahead, then pointed at the White Fang climbing on top of the train, "We got badies!"

"Well, I didn't expect them to go d-"

Suddenly, the bomb started whirring and its screen flashing.

Oobleck stood up, "Time to go!"

The girls jumped to the next car with Oobleck and Zwei close behind.

"Blake, detach the caboose! It will kill us all!"

She nodded and jumped down to the latch, Gambol Shroud in hand. Right then, it clicked out of place and the caboose was quickly loosing speed.

Blake looked up, "It decupled itself!"

"What!?"

"I guess he really doesn't want us on his train," Yang said.

The caboose exploded, Oobleck watched with a worried look, "That's not good."

"Neither is this," Ruby said, pointing into another car.

"Another bomb!?" Blake exclaimed.

Oobleck hurried ahead to the next car and looked in through the hatch, "No no no!" he turned to them, "THEY ALL HAVE BOMBS!"

The car started to detach from the rest of the train and the rest of the group jumped to the next one with Oobleck.

"This doesn't make sense!" Yang cried.

They all turned back towards the front and saw more Fang members, much closer this time.

One grunt charged at them, but Yang met him halfway, tripping him and sending him upwards in a low kick, then winking at him before shooting his face with a punch, crashing him into the train car.  
Blake dashed forward through the crowding Fang, slicing through them as she dodged fire and fists, before doing a twist four cars ahead, knocking several grunts off the train.

Pyrrha jumped onto the next car, smashing the hook of the cane into the nearby grunt. It got caught on their tusk midturn, throwing them into another grunt and both off the train. She turned around just in time to dodge another grunt charging at her and elbowed them in the back of the neck. She winced as the fell between the cars, "Sorry!"  
Ruby shot behind her, sending herself forward into the remaining grunts. Crescent's blade clicked upwards, cutting into the nearest Fang while the gust of wind knocked back the others.

Oobleck joined them on the next car as the previous one detached, he watched it slow to a stop then explode. Several Grimm poured out of the new openings and immediately started chasing the train.  
"Oh dear," he turned to the girls, "He's leading Grimm to the city!"

Pyrrha straightened, "What?"

"It's the cars! They detach and explode, creating openings from the Grimm!"

"That's insane!" Blake said.

Oobleck moved to the next car before it was let go, "We have to hurry! You go below and try to stop those bombs!"

"What about you?" Ruby asked as the others dropped down a hatch.

"I'm sticking to the original plan! Stopping the train!"

Several Paladins climbed to the top of the train, the noise grabbing their attention.

"Dr. Oobleck?" Ruby called, worried.

He held up his club and the inside of it started to glow, "I'll be fine, just go!"

She gave a small nod before jumping down the hatch. She looked around the car before coming up to the others surrounding a bomb as Blake was cutting and moving wires.

"Did I miss anything?"

"No, just being thankful Adam made sure we were able to disarm these things," Blake said, opening another panel.

Ruby gave a puzzled look before a girl with pink and brown hair jumped down from wherever she was hiding and held her umbrella behind her head, a cocky grin on her face.

Ruby shifted Crescent into its assault rifle form, growling. Yang swung out a punch and shot a blast of fire at the girl, but she backflipped out of it. Because you can't just side step, that's not stylish.  
Pyrrha charged forward, cane raised to strike. Neo turned to dodge, only to get shot in the side by Ruby and get knocked back into Pyrrha's swing, the cane hitting her face with a hard **thwack**. She stumbled forward, holding her nose.  
She looked up from her hand, irises now brown and white.

"What? Were you expecting us to split up?" Yang asked.

The girl sneered before jumping back and vanishing into the air. The bomb made a short **bweep** and Blake stood up, "Okay, on to the next."

They hurried across the gap between cars as Oobleck charged into a Paladin in a ring of fire above them. Zwei hopped across after him.  
The girls stepped into the next car as a White Fang lieutenant came in from the opposite side, dragging the tip of a running chainsaw on the ground.  
He lifted it up and held it correctly, chuckling to himself.

"Edgy," Ruby grinned.

Pyrrha raised her hand and both it and the chainsaw were surrounded in a dark aura, she swung her arm about, pulling the man along as he tried to keep hold. She quickly yanked it from him and clenched her fist, which twisted the chainsaw into itself and its belt snapped, getting stuck. She threw it back at him as hard as she could, but he dodged.

As the crumpled saw crashed into some crates, the lieutenant charged at them. Ruby ran for him as well, turning into a spiraling mass of rose petals. Right as he reached to grab her, she turned, kicking out as she twisted, smashing him in the jaw. He toppled to the side, crashing into some crates, grunting in pain.

Blake looked around, "I don't see a bomb in here..?"

"I guess they were in a hurry," Ruby said.

Suddenly, there was an explosion outside that shook the car, followed by a loud crash on the side of the train.

Oobleck opened the hatch, "Do not worry, girls! That was just the last of the Paladins!"

Zwei looked into the car, fur slightly singed, and barked.

Oobleck looked ahead, then suddenly looked terrified, "NEVERMIND, WORRY!"

Before anyone could react, there was a loud explosion just ahead and everything flung forward, including the group, as fire and smoke flooded the car.  
====  
Ruby woke up shortly after, in a pile of rubble, her silver Aura flickered over her as it started regenerating. She looked around, her vision clearing as well as her hearing.  
Blake moved to get up, using Gambol to support herself, then turning her head to spit out a tooth. Violet Aura washing over her in waves as she looked up to meet Ruby's gaze.  
Pyrrha was unconscious a few feet ahead, laying against the square's stairs on her arm.

The others were nowhere to be seen.

The sirens, now clear as day, rang out, attracting nearby citizens, several of them.

Oobleck suddenly limped out of the opening with a masked woman in red, an unconscious Yang in their tow. One of Yang's arms was swollen and red, and not even the surging yellow light of her Aura was fixing it.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Oobleck shouted, "RUN! ALL OF YOU! GET OUT OF HERE!"

There was loud rumbling from behind them, getting closer.

A King Taijitu burst from the tunnel, countless Nevermore billowed out into the air as Beowolves and young Deathstalkers crawled out. This sent the people into a panic and they all ran out of the area, Grimm hot on their tails.  
====  
"You guys did great," a woman, most likely Falkner, called out as she drove the airship, "Will definitely be giving a good review."

Nora cheered, holding the upper half of a Nevermore mask.

The radio started sounding staticky, and another station seemed to be coming through. Falkner turned the dial a bit until it was clear.

{ALL PERSONNEL ARE NEEDED AT THE SOUTHEAST SQUARE. CODE ALPHA BLACK. I REPEAT. ALL PERSONNEL ARE NEEDED AT THE SOUTHEAST SQUARE. CODE ALPHA BLACK}

"I hope you guys are ready for a fight!" Falkner made the ship take a sharp turn left, pulling team RWN.

"What's going on?" Weiss asked, startled, "Alpha Black?"

"Grimm Horde in heavy population!" Falkner shouted, clearly panicked herself, "You're saving lives today!"

Team RWN all looked at each other.  
====  
Emerald and Mercury watched as several airships flew by towards the southeast.

"What is he doing?" Emerald worried, "That's still days away!"

He looked at the smoke rising in the city, "Well, this just leaves us one choice."

He pointed at a group of students getting onto an airship, "Play hero."

She nodded and the two ran for the ship, "Hey, wait for us!"  
====  
Back in the square Ruby and Blake were huddled in a corner with Police as they guarded wounded citizens, including Yang and Pyrrha. The masked woman cut through a diving Nevermore as the Knights shot down an Ursa.

Several airships flew in, with even more Hunters and training students leaping out into the fray.

Team RWN leaped out of one and collectively landed on the neck of the King Taijitu, temporarily stopping it, and the airship turned and charged into a giant Nevermore, exploding. Falkner fell out of the fire and landed on her feet, battle-axe in hand.

Ren shot into the head of the rushing Taijitu, one gun's blade lodging into it to keep hold, while Weiss shot shards of lightning and ice at oncoming Grimm.

A giant Atlesean Battleship flew overhead surrounded by a large fleet of smaller ones, dropping Knights into the square, immediately starting to shooting down Grimm.

Mercury charged in from a crowd of students and kicked a Boarbatusk in the throat. Emerald dashed past him, shooting her pistols at a group of Ursa, before jumping back when one swung at her. The blades in her guns swung out into sickles and she spun out, blades getting tossed hooked to chains, cutting into the Grimm's hide.

Suddenly, a Paladin climbed out of the tunnel, and Zwei leaped from its shoulder, headbutting a Beowolf, knocking out.

Another airship came in, carrying team CFVY and Port. Coco looked at her team and they all nodded, before jumping out.

Velvet summoned a hard light lance from her box and lodged it into the King Taijitu RWN was on, stopping it in it's tracks, then dashed to the side to kick an Ursa in the face as the lance faded.  
Yatsuhashi raised his sword from his back and swung it overhead into the ground, causing ground to burst in a seismic wave, throwing several Grimm into the range of Knights.

Fox charged forward into an Alpha Ursa, cutting into its underbelly with his arm blades, before striking its head as it fell. It was knocked back and exploded into smog, send its spikes in the nearby Grimm.  
Coco faced a giant Beowolf, bag in hand. The Grimm swung at her, but she blocked it with her own uppercut with the bag, cracking its hand. She then kicked it full force in the crotch and it fell over in pain. She swung her bag overhead and into its mask, shattering it. Several more Grimm rushed towards her and she smashed her bag into most of their faces until she had to jump back to dodge a Deathstalker barb.

Velvet hurried to her side with a hard light minigun in tow, Coco nodded and her bag shifted into an identical minigun. The two opened fire into the Grimm, shattering masks and some roads, before aiming upwards and blasting a pair of giant Nevermore in half. The halves fell into the buildings just outside of view.

Glynda marched down the now mostly clear street, smashing a few straggling Grimm back with purple glyphs, before stopping at the open tunnel. She raised her crop and the rubble rose from the ground and was settled back into place on the road, the cracks mending until you almost couldn't tell it was ever open save for the burned parts.  
====  
Once all the Grimm were gone, Police and Atlesean forces started making arrests.

Roman was lead onto a ship, pretty indifferent to this, "Oh, I can't believe you caught me! You've really taught me the error of my ways!" he rolled his eyes as he was pushed by a pair of Knights.

Everyone gathered in the makeshift ward where the injured were getting put into ambulances.

Velvet was with team RWN, listening to Nora talk about everything, Mercury and Emerald were semi-awkwardly accepting thanks, and team RPBY were being carried off in one of the ambulances. Zwei was with them, don't worry.

Yang watched from the back window as a medic wrapped her arm, "Well, we did it."

"Most of us, anyway," Pyrrha said, disappointed.

"It's okay Pyrrha, there's nothing you could've done knocked out like that.." Ruby said, gently holding her hands, "I mean, what could any of us done much like this."

"At least we got a lot of dangerous people behind bars," Blake said, "I think that's something we can be proud of!"

"Yeah!" Ruby grinned, "And if anyone tries to do this again, we'll be here to stop them!"

After a minute, Pyrrha spoke up, "So now what?"

"Uh.." Ruby looked over everyone, "Get some sleep?"

"Absolutely," Blake shifted a bit.

"I'm going to sleep forever," Yang grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Never let me merge four episodes into one chapter ever again, because JESUS CHRIST this took forever.


	14. Round One

It was a quiet afternoon in Patch, with a gentle breeze swaying the tall grass and leaves. The sun was setting in the distance, giving everything a warm orange tint.

Ruby stood at the cliff overlooking the forest below. She stared at the gravestone at the cliff's edge, Dust glittered and flickered over the stone.

She took a breath and lowered her hood, "Hey Mom..."  
"Sorry I haven't come by in a while, things have been..." she glanced to the side, smiling a little, "Well, things have been pretty busy."  
She straightened, smiling more, "Oh! Dad's here, too! Maybe he'll come talk to you someday soon?" she held her arm behind her back, with her other hand over her heart, "He's still teaching at Signal, but he said he's starting to go out on missions again!.. I think he misses adventuring with you.." her expression fell a bit, but she kept a small smile, "I miss you too.."

She held her hands in front of her, "I haven't gotten kicked out of Beacon yet! So that's cool.."  
"I think being on a team with Yang helps.. I keep her in line.." she gave a short laugh, ".. That was a joke.. She's a great fighter."  
"Well so are Blake and Pyrrha.." she smiled, "They're my teammates! And it's the same Blake, if you were wondering. I'm so glad to see her again, in person, I mean. And Pyrrha is _the_ Pyrrha Nikos, she's my partner and it's great, she's great!"  
"Together we form team Ruby!" she rolled her eyes, "And, before you ask- yes, that does cause a lot of confusion."

"Anyways, I've made a ton of new friends, and I've met some.. let's just say odd teachers."  
She rocked on her heels a bit, "We've also stopped some bad guys, too! I guess it's like they say, like Mother like daughter..."

She looked up, "I still wonder why Ozpin let me in the school early, but I guess he'll tell me some day," she shrugged, "It's funny, the more I get to know him, the more he starts to sound like Uncle Qrow."

Zwei barked in the distance, getting Ruby's attention, "Oh! Looks like it's time to head back, I gotta go!" she hopped a bit, excited, "I'm fighting in the tournament!"  
"Wish me luck," she kneeled down and laid her hand over the rose emblem on the stone, the Dust shined brighter for a second.  
She got up, "It was nice to talk.."  
She turned and jogged up to her father as a flock of birds flew by.  
====  
The next day, in a flying colosseum filled to the brim with people, Oobleck and Glynda sat in the announcers booth watching the match.

Ruby charged through the empty part of the arena, shooting at a guy with pink hair. Blake jumped over head, dodging a punk girl's hoverboard as she swung it around.

"Well, it's seems Yang and Pyrrha have healed well since that Grimm attack," Glynda said as Yang leaped into the air off the burst from her gauntlets to avoid another girl's attack and Pyrrha blocked bullets fired at her with a pretty generic shield before throwing it at whoever was shooting her.

"Yes, Aura is a marvelous force of nature," Oobleck said, "And I'm certain that the people at home are glad to be able to watch such a match thanks to it!"

The punk girl rode her hoverboard around a pillar of ice to block Blake's shots, then charged at her. Halfway to her, she twisted around and threw the board at her with a kick. Blake hit it back with Gambol and the girl caught it just in time to used it as a shield against Blake's short flurry of attacks. She swung the bladed ends at her before backflipping back onto it, rushing for her again. Blake leaped back in a shadow as the girl went through it, she swung her blade up, seemingly cutting the board in half and sending the girl flying back.  
The ends shifted into pistols right as she grabbed them to start shooting at her, but she hit the ice with her tailbone and dropped them in sudden pain.  
Blake held her hand to her mouth, surprised.

{Well, it seems Reese needs to work on her landings,} Oobleck said.

Yang charged at a girl dressed kind of like a monk, fist aimed to fire. The girl turned to dodge, a wire shot from her sleeve and the end hooked onto Yang's leg. It pulled her off balance as the girl turned back to her and then she swung her leg up, kicking Yang it the gut. Yang was thrown back by the force and slid into the ice half of the ring.  
Yang struggled to get her footing on the ice as the girl leaped at her, punching her in the face and sending flying back again.  
The guy with pink hair aimed to shoot her, but Ruby shot him in the back with Ice Dust, making him drop his gun and trapping him from the diaphragm down. He gave a defeated look, pouting.

"I've got your back!" Ruby called from her perch in the ice.

"Yeah?" a guy asked, smugly, holding his staff to hit her, "Who's got yours?"

A spear came out of nowhere and crashed into his ribs, knocking him off the perch and into a rock on the lava side of the ring. Pyrrha leaped up to catch the weapon.  
Ruby smiled, tail wagging, "My best friend!"

Pyrrha nodded before jumping down to keep fighting that guy.

He held himself up with his staff, trying to catch his breath. Pyrrha threw her shield at his face, knocking him over, but he rolled over just in time to dodge a swipe from her spear.  
He hurried to his feet and turned as Ruby used Crescent Rose to launch herself at him, he held out his staff in both hands in an attempt to block her. Her scythe got caught on it, but the staff gave a bit from the weight, before Ruby fired at him to send herself back.  
Pyrrha charged forward and he spun his staff out to hit her. She pulled her shield back to her with her semblance, then immediately threw it again, this time with an grunt of effort. The shield hit his staff, knocking both it and the shield into his face. He stumbled back, shaking his head, then ran for a large crystal of Fire Dust.  
He knocked a shard off and threw it at Reese, who lodged it into her hoverboard. Its teal lights turned red.

Reese hopped on her board and rode to the pink haired guy, melting the ice holding him. She then turned back to Blake and charged at her with a trail of fire behind her. She spun and fire billowed out of the ends of the board, but Blake dodged making three shadows that jumped in different directions. Reese turned to one as the real Blake threw Gambol into the large ice mountain to pull herself out of danger, the other girl noticed and followed her.

Reese turned to see Blake standing between to ice pillars and immediately charged at her. Doing another spin, the shadow burst into flames on contact and Gambol was thrown behind the left pillar and snagged into the other, clotheslining Reese. Blake jumped from her spot and kicked Reese out of the ring, snatching her board out of the air. Reese hit the invisible forcefield protecting the audience and a buzzer went off.

{Reese Chloris has been eliminated by ring out and Aura depletion,} Glynda called out.

Reese hit the ground, angry.

{And it doesn't look like the rest of them are during too well, either,} Oobleck added as he watched Pyrrha and Ruby chase the two guys.

The girl Yang was fighting saw them and rolled her eyes, then left to help them.

"Hey!" Yang shouted, about to follow her.

"I got it!" Blake shouted, riding past her on the hoverboard.

Blake went up one of the leaning ice pillars and into the air, she flipped, throwing the board forward into the mountain of ice. She fell, landing on the girl's shoulders, knocking her into the ice. The board cracked a large chuck of ice from the mountain, causing it to fall right in the other two's path. In their panic to turn on the ice, Pyrrha and Ruby tackled them into the large slab of ice.

The buzzer sounded again and everyone cheered.

{And that's the match!} Glynda announced, {Team Ruby is victorious!}

Blake picked up Reese's hoverboard and handed it over to the other girl, giving an awkward smile as it was snatched out of her hand.

Ruby looked at her team, smiling as her tail wagged furiously, "WE DID IT!"  
====  
A bit later, in a field full of shopping booths, team RPBY were looking around, not sure what to do now.

Ruby slumped over a bit, "Ugh, is anyone else starving?"

"I may have worked up an appetite," Blake said.  
Her stomach conveniently growled, surprising her.

"Come on, I know a place," Yang said, motioning the others to follow her.

After a few feet, they passed by Emerald and Mercury. Emerald quickly snatched something off the ground, "Hey!" she called out, holding a wallet.  
The team turned around.  
"It's going to be kind of hard to get anything without this."

Ruby's eyes went wide as she quickly checked her pockets, because her skirt has them I guess?

Emerald laughed, handing it over to her, "Good to see you Ruby."

"Thanks, Emerald!" Ruby said, stashing the wallet, "I guess I dropped it," she rolled her eyes, "Girl pockets are the worst."

Yang walked up to the two, "What's up, Em?"

"Just leaving the stadium after watching your amazing fight!" Emerald smiled, "You guys were awesome!"

Ruby blushed, tail wagging, mumbling to herself.

"I wish we could've participated in the tournament, too," Emerald said, holding her hands behind her back, "Shame nobody wanted to substitute for Cinder."

"Yeah, I was looking forward to seeing how far you'd get," Yang said.

"Well, we were on our way to get some victory food," Pyrrha said, "Do you want to join us?"

Emerald looked surprised, "Oh, gosh, that is so nice of you, but my other teammates are all kinda-" she turned to Mercury, who was sniffing a boot, "Introverted.."

Yang gave a confused look at him, "I see.."

"Really socially awkward.." Emerald looked back at the team, "So who did you pick to go to the doubles, then?"

Ruby smiled, proud of herself, "Well, as the leader of this team, I thought long and hard about this decision!" she laughed a little, "And decided to put it to a vote!"

"We voted for Yang and Pyrrha," Blake continued, motioning to the two.

"I will gladly fight for my team," Pyrrha said.

Yang hit her knuckles together, "Yeah, we're going to kick some butt!"

Emerald laughed, "Well, I hope you do well."

"Totally!"

"Alright, me and Mercury are going to watch more fights, you guys go enjoy yourselves."

Ruby waved as Emerald walked away, "Have fun!"

"See you later!"

Mercury turned away from the boots as Emerald's expression turned annoyed, "So how are the new ''friends''?"

"I hate them," she said, rolling her eyes.

"She said to stick to the plan," Mercury shrugged.

"Just how can they be so ~happy~ _all the time?_ " Emerald asked, holding her hands out like she was choking something.

"Did you at least get what we want?"

"It's the cereal girl and the bimbo."

Mercury thought for a second, "Well, at least we know who we're working with."

Back with team RPBY as they walked up to a noodle stand, team RW(V)N was already there.

They all had big as hell noodle bowls in front of them, and there was a blue credit card stabbed into the spot next to Weiss', said girl was looking to the side, thinking.

"Is everything okay?" Yang asked as she and her team sat down on the side.

"My card was declined," Weiss said, "And I just got my monthly allowance!"

"Echs feyn Wis!" Nora said, before swallowing her mouthful of noodles, "Velvet got it!"

"She shouldn't have to, though!" Weiss said, slamming her fist on the table, "I'm a _Schnee_ , I should be able to spend a bit of money here and there for my friends!"

Velvet pat her back a little, "It'll be okay, maybe it's just the card?"

Weiss sighed, "Maybe..."

There was a short silence before Yang looked up at the menu, "I'll.. take the regular."

The cook nodded before dashing into the kitchen and back with a massive bowl of noodles, placing it in front of her.

Pyrrha whistled.

"I guess that's why it's called Mega Noodles," Ruby said, before looking at the menu herself.  
====  
After the probably hour it took to eat those huge bowls of noodles, everyone was relaxing in their seats.

Pyrrha pushed her bowl forward a bit and laid her hands on the table, a pleased look on her face.

Ren looked over the bowls, then to his teammates, "Are we sure it's wise to eat before a match?"

"I didn't hear any complaints while you were scarfing down your food," Velvet said.

"Yeah, you're right," Ren said, watching the cook gather up the bowls and chopsticks, "Just don't want to throw up during the fight."

"Oh, aim it at the enemy!" Nora said, giving a nasty grin.

"That's disgusting," Weiss said.

"So," Ruby cut in, "Do you think you guys are ready?"

"Of course!" Nora said, "We've got an heiress with the top scores in pretty much everything, a mentor with photographic muscle memory and every weapon known to man under her belt, what's basically a ninja, and I can bench five of me!" she listed, "We've trained all year, our weapons are awesome, and Glynda barely yells at us anymore!"  
"I mean, the worst that could happen is that we lose, then it's just a few more years of walking around school with everyone knowing we're failures, our friends will slowly abandon us to preserve their social status," color literally started leaving Nora's body, "we won't be able to show our faces in class, no one will sit with us in the cafeteria, and RenandIhavenoparentsandnohometogotowe'llofficiallyberenamedteamLoserfor-" she started crying, laying her head on the table.

"Wow."

"So, yeah," Ren laid a hand on Nora's back, "We're feeling pretty good."

"Don't fret, if anything we should be looking forward to a fight with actual guidelines and not well," Pyrrha glanced to the side, " _Murderers._ "

"Yeah, don't sweat it," Yang said, "We've all faced worst before."

"Let's see," Blake started counting on her hand, "Grimm invasion, violent extremists, a sociopath."

The cook looked out from the kitchen, surprised.

"And that was all while we're still in training!" Ruby said, excited, "Oh, imagine what it'll be like when we graduate."

"Then I'll be able to pay for a meal," Weiss grumbled.

The intercom turned on and Glynda spoke up, {Would team Rowan please report to the battlegrounds immediately.}

{Yes!} Oobleck chimed in, {Like they were _scheduled_ to, _fifteen. minutes. ago_ }

Velvet jumped up, lifting Weiss into her arms.

"H-Hey!" Weiss stammered, "What are you-"

"We gotta hurry before we get kicked!"

Team RW(V)N dashed for the airships.

"I run faster than all of you!" Weiss cried out as she was carried off.

"Got get'em!" Ruby called after them.  
====  
Shortly after, team RW(V)N were gathered in the arena with another team standing across from them, the crowd cheering and Atlesean Knights guarding all the exits.

Emerald and Mercury sat in the front row, Mercury shoved a handful of popcorn into his mouth, "I wonder who's going to win."

"As if we don't already know," she watched him shovel another handful into his face, "How can you eat that junk?"

He paused for a second before holding out the popcorn bucket, "Want some?"

Emerald took a handful, "Of course."

{For those of you just joining in, also us to explain the rules,} Oobleck started, {The tournament is divided into three rounds: Teams, Doubles, and Singles. School year is irrelevant. The only attribute being tested,} he fixed his glasses, {is skill.}

{The winners of the Team round with elect two of their members to represent them in the Doubles round, followed by the winners of that round choosing one member to advance to the Singles,} Glynda continued, {The remaining combatants will fight their way through the ranks to the final bracket to claim victory for their kingdom and school.}

{Yes, Glynda, these certainly are some spectacular spectacles on which to spectate on, he smiled, {and I don't think anyone tuning in around the world is going to disagree with me on that!}  
{Now then, for the match!}

{Team Rowan, of Beacon,} Glynda announced as the arena flashed white on said team's side, showing them all with their weapons out and ready.  
{Versus Team Bronze, of Shade.}

Displays flashed on the forcefield, rolling through environment settings for each half, landing on a green image of a summer forest and a grey image of a stormy mountain.

{In the forests of Eleos and the mountains of Diction.}

The two teams looked around them as the arena opened up and both environments emerged around them, before returning their attention to the enemy team.

{3.. 2.. 1. Begin!}

The teams charged at each other, except for the girl with a sniper rifle who ran for the trees behind them.

The guy with bronze kneecaps leaped at Velvet, swinging out a fist with bladed knuckles. She blocked it with a light shield before turning around and kicking his side with her heel, she noticed the girl leap into the trees.

Nora swung her hammer at the guy with a police baton, but he ducked.

"We got a sniper!" Velvet shouted as the girl shot at Ren, "Spread out!"

Weiss blocked a strike from one of the guys as the others ran to other ends of the area.

The sniper looked around the arena, quickly setting her sights on Ren. She fired at him, causing him to jump to the side and into the baton strike of the guy Nora tried to hit. Ren turned to kick him, but was blocked with another strike to his ankle. He stumbled a bit and got jabbed with the electrified end of the baton, making him fall over.

"Ren!" Nora cried from her side, before rushing to him.

She swung Magnhild at him, but he ducked again before jabbing his baton into her gut.  
Nora grinned as her Aura surged over her in a similar electric pattern.

{Looks like Mr. North is in for a surprise,} Oobleck cut in.

He looked up at the screen.

{Ms. Valkyrie's semblance allows her to channel electricity through her muscles to allow her to jump explosively into the air, wield her mighty hammer-}  
Glynda cut in, {And send Nolan flying because he stopped paying attention.}

He looked back at Nora right as she bashed her hammer into his gut, knocking him tumbling into a boulder.

Velvet hurried into the forest, summoning an blunderbuss-axe from her box. She quietly reached the tree the sniper was in and got into stance as they fired at the rest of her team.  
Velvet swung the axe back, then forward into the tree with as much force as she could muster. The axe lodged into the log with a loud thunk, grabbing the sniper's attention just as Velvet cut into the tree a second time. The tree started to fall and the girl struggled to jump, but fell to the grass, dropping her rifle.  
The blunderbuss vanished in a puff of blue smoke, the girl rolled over just as Velvet reached down to grab her by her jacket and was thrown over the edge of the arena.

The buzzer sounded off.

{May Zedong has been eliminated by ring out!} Oobleck called.

Velvet ran out of the forest, blocking a circular saw thrown at her with a different shield, "Everyone! Thunderbolt!"

The team nodded, before Ren charged for Nolan. He swung his baton at him again, but Ren jumped to the side, grabbing Nolan's wrist and twisted him around. His baton was knocked out of his hand as Ren forced him into a headlock.

Weiss summoned a black glyph under Nora's feet, it swirled around her for a few seconds before launching her into the air as the last two members of BRNZ hurried to free Nolan from Ren. Weiss summoned another glyph, cyan and surging with static, which sent Nora flying into the group.  
Ren let go of Nolan and jumped out of the way just as Nora hit the arena ground, the shockwave knocked everyone back. Ren tumbled into a bush while the rest of BRNZ went into the forest.  
Nora leaped after them, still juiced up, and blasted the team out of bounds, into the forcefield, with another hard swing of her hammer.

The buzzer rang loudly as the audience cheered.

{And with that, team Rowan wins by ring out,} Glynda said, then was quiet for a second, {Could someone go make sure they're okay?}  
====  
Meanwhile, in an open bar, a washed up old drunk swished his drink around while the bartender watched the match.

"Huh, those kids weren't half bad," the tender said, drying a glass.

The drunk shrugged, then took a swig of his drink.  
====  
Team RPBY walked through the festival grounds, holding some bags.

"So now what?" Yang asked.

"Watch another fi-" Ruby's scroll suddenly started beeping, and she dug it out of her pocket. She jumped a bit, "Oh Dust, I completely forgot!" she shoved her bag into Blake's arms and grabbed Pyrrha's, "Come on, Pyrrha!"

"Wait, what?" Pyrrha asked, "What's going-"

"It's a surprise! Come on!" Ruby said, pulling her.

"A-alright," Pyrrha said, before getting hurried out of the festival grounds in a burst of petals.

The remaining two shrugged at each other.

Ruby suddenly stopped inside a building and Pyrrha looked around as the leader walked off.

"The forge?" Pyrrha said, curious, "Why are we here?"

Ruby rang the bell at the counter, her tail wagging excitedly. The blacksmith hurried out with a couple things wrapped in cloth and placed them on the counter.

"Ruby?" she called as lien was handed over.

Ruby turned to her, hopping, "Come on! Look at it!"

Pyrrha walked up to the counter and faced the bundled items. She carefully removed the fabric and her eyes widen a bit.

"I didn't want you fighting with some generic weapons," Ruby said, as Pyrrha picked up the replica of Akouo, "So I.. um.. commissioned replacements for Akouo and Milo," she grabbed her hand, "I even had the shield be more Dust compatible! Look!" she pressed the face of the shield and the black ring started to glow, "There's a Dust slot in the side of it, it has a Lightning-Earth mix in it now, so it's like a flashlight."

"Wow, Ruby, you really didn't have to do this," Pyrrha said, pressing the shield again to turn it off.

"But I wanted to! I like doing things for people I love.."

Pyrrha looked at her surprised.

Ruby straightened, "Oh, that reminds me! The joint in Gambol Shroud is getting a little squeaky."

Pyrrha slumped over, defeated, as Ruby hurried to one of the shelves.  
====  
Back at the bar, the drunk was still there.

{You know what you'd call that fight?} Glynda asked.

{Shocking?} Oobleck asked.

{I was going to say electrifying, but that was better.}

The bartender whistled, "Now that was a fight."

"That one guy just stood there and took three slow moving tornados," the drunk said, "I've seen elderly with faster reflexes than that."

"Come on, you didn't like them, the Vale kids, or any of the fights before that!" he said, putting down a glass, "What fight are you here for?"

An airship with big flowy ribbons on the back flew by in the distance, grabbing the drunk's attention. He chugged the rest of his drink and put the cup down, "That one."  
He took an unbalanced step of the stool, tossed some lien on the counter, and stumbled out, "Happy Vytal Festival!"

The bartender reached for the lien, accidentally knocking a glass to the floor, shattering it.  
He looked at it, disappointedly, "Aww, gee-darn it."  
====  
Team RW(V)N walked towards the school while Ren and Nora were counting stacks of lien.

"Where'd you get that?" Weiss asked.

"Bet money, a lot of people thought team Sun was going to lose," Ren said as he folded the money.

"And you thought Indigo would?" Velvet wondered.

"Well, Ren did," Nora shrugged as Ren walked of towards a team of girls at an ice cream stall, "Not sure why though."

Velvet and Weiss watched Ren as he handed all his lien to the girls and the group nodded.

"Yeah.." Weiss said, with a quirked eyebrow.

Suddenly, the airship from earlier flew overhead. Weiss smiled, excited.

Velvet looked at her, "What's up, Weiss?"

"She's here!" Weiss grabbed Velvet's hand, "Come on, you've got to meet her!"

"Who?" Velvet asked as she was pulled towards the docks.


	15. It's Brawl In The Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's back?  
> This guy! :D

Velvet ran after Weiss, "Wait! Weiss, who is it?"

Weiss stopped right before the docks, watching as Atlesean Knights marched out of the airship, "Winter."

Velvet watched a woman very similar to Weiss in appearance step off the ship, "Your sister?"

"WINTER!!" Weiss called, excited.

The woman turned around as Weiss ran up to her, pulling Velvet with her.

"Winter! I'm so happy to see you!" she jumped a bit, "Oh!" she curtsied, confusing Velvet, "Your presence honors us."

Winter calmly stepped up to her, "Beacon.. It's been a long time," she looked around, "The air feels.. different."

"So, what are you doing here?"

"Classified."

"Oh, right.." Weiss nodded, holding her hands together, "Well, how long are you staying?"

"Classified."

"Of course," Weiss smiled.

Velvet looked at the two of them as they were uncomfortably quiet for a good ten seconds, she cleared her throat.

Weiss jumped a little, excited, "You're going to love it here! I know you travel a lot, but so much of Beacon is different from Atlas! Vale, too!" she held up her hands, "The government and the school are completely separate, can you believe that? I-"

"I'm more than familiar with how this kingdom handles its.. bureaucracy," Winter cut in, "That is not why I came."

"Right!" Weiss shrunk, "I'm sorry."

"Nor did I come here to watch my own blood fail so misery in battle," she looked back at the ship for a second as its door closed, then back at Weiss, "But it appears I have no choice in the matter."

"But we won," she said, confused and understandably hurt.

"Only a novice would refer to that as a victory," Winter continued, ignoring Velvet's increasing annoyance, "I counted at least _three_ strikes missed."

Velvet held Weiss's shoulder, concerned as the heiress looked at the ground.

She raised a hand, glancing at the Knights behind her, "Leave us."

The robots beeped in affirmation and stepped back.

She sighed, "How have you been?"

"Oh, splendid!" Weiss suddenly lit up, "Thank you for asking."

"I'm actually in the very top ranking of our sparring class. The rest of my studies are going wonderfully too. I'm-"

Suddenly, Winter swung her hand down, but missed Weiss's head as Velvet yanked the heiress back.

"Velvet?" Weiss looked at her, confused.

"The hell were you about to do?" Velvet glared.

Winter glanced between the two, "I.." she straightened, "This isn't your concern."

"As her mentor and _friend_ , yes it is," she sneered, _"So you better keep your hands to yourself."_

After an awkward silence, Winter sighed, "I apologize..."  
She held out her hand, "I suppose I should thank you for.. taking an interest in my sister."

Velvet took her hand and shook it once, "At least _I_ want to see her happy."

"I... would appreciate that," Winter looked over at Weiss, "At any rate, I have business with your headmaster and the general, but.." she held her hands together, "Seeing as I'm early, why don't you take me to your quarters?"

"Really?" Weiss asked, happy again.

"Yes," Winter said, starting for the school with Knights following close, "I wish to inspect them and make sure they are up to my personal standards."

"Of course," Weiss followed by her side.

Velvet watched the Knights walk by, curious, before hurrying back to the front with the sisters.

About halfway down the path to the main building, the drunk guy from the bar stepped out of the crowd and marched up behind one of the knights.

He yanked it back by the shoulder with one hand, grabbing under the jaw area with the other, and ripped the head off with a loud, creaking, snap. Everyone turned, surprised, as he threw the head forward.

Winter reflexively reached for her sword as she turned.

"Hey!" he tossed the limp robot to the side, "Yeah, I'm talkin' to you, I-"

[Hostile In Bounds! Executing arrest!]

"Wait-" He reached for his weapon just as the other three Knights tackled him

[Hostile restrained!]

He grunted, fighting their grasps, "Like hell I am!"

[Subject resisting arrest!]

Winter sighed, letting go of her sword, "Stop fighting! You're only making them angry!"

"I'm not going to jail!" he shouted before getting smacked in the face with a gun.  
====  
Ruby and Pyrrha walked down the sidewalk, Pyrrha's new weapons holstered on her back.

"So, what are you going to call them? Akouo and Milo again?" Ruby asked.

"Well, those were names my mother chose, I've never really given anything a name before," Pyrrha said, "Maybe you could suggest some-"

Suddenly, Ironwood and a few Knights ran past, for the docks.

"Oh, wow," Ruby said, watching them go, "I wonder what's going on."

"Someone is getting arrested!" Penny cheered, suddenly behind them, startling the pair, "Oh, it is so good to see you two again!"  
====  
"SCHNEE!" Ironwood called as her Knights picked up the now dazed drunk, "What in Remnant is going on?"

Winter turned to him, "He tore the head of one of Knights, and it triggered the others' Hostile Protocol."

"Of course he did.." Ironwood sighed, marching up to the drunk, "Qrow."

Qrow slowly lifted his head to look at him, ".. Tinman."

"You do know diplomatic immunity doesn't apply to unnecessary destruction of military property, right?"

He rolled his eyes, grinning smugly.

"What are you doing here?" Ironwood asked sternly.

"I could be asking you the same thing."

"I-"

Suddenly, Ozpin and Glynda walked in through the crowd.  
"Now now, everyone," Ozpin started, "There have been nothing but sanctioned fights going on all day at the colosseum, there's no need to watch every spat," he smiled, "Especially without popcorn."

Glynda stepped forward, "Break it up everyone! There will be plenty more fights tomorrow!"

Ironwood fixed his collar as the people dispersed, then glanced at Winter, then looked around, "Where's Penny?"  
====  
Ruby and Pyrrha sat under a tree with Penny, each of them looking over one of Penny's swords.

"So how many of these do you have in you?" Ruby asked, gently pushing on the blade's middle joint.

"Well, with the wire spools, joints, and sockets needed for movement and weapon control, I can store up to eight," Penny said, watching Pyrrha turn her sword in the air with her semblance.

Suddenly the sound of matching Knights grabbed their attention and Penny quickly yanked the swords back into her.

"Penny!" Ironwood shouted, finally seeing the three, "What are you doing?"

"Talking with these Beacon students!" Penny said, getting up.

He looked other the other two, before sighing, "Of course you were.."  
He straightened, "We're heading to the headmaster's office now, I recommend you going back to your dorm before you.. share something you _shouldn't_."

She shrunk a bit, "Yes, sir.."

Ruby and Pyrrha watched as Penny was lead towards the dorms, she turned and gave them a little wave which the pair returned with a bit of confliction.

"Hey, kid," Qrow said as he was carried by the Knights.

"Uncle Qrow?" Ruby jumped up as the Knights paused for a bit.

Her expression quickly changed, the situation finally processing, she frowned, "You're going to jail again, aren't you?"

"No!" he shouted, offended, "I'm just getting more debt."

Ruby shook her head as the Knights continued to carry Qrow into the nearby building, "Dad's not going to like this."

Pyrrha tilted her head, " _That's_ the man that taught you to fight?"

Ruby walked back up to her, shrugging, "Just the scythe part, really."  
====  
Hours later, after the sun had set, Ozpin and the others were in his office. Qrow's hands now cuffed up to the elbows in connected steel bracers.

"What were you thinking!?" Winter asked him.

"If you were one of my men, I would have you shot!" Ironwood said, clenching a fist.

Qrow rolled his eyes, "If I was one of your men, I'd shoot myself.." he raised his arms, shaking his cuffs, "Is this really necessary?"

Ozpin sighed, "Why are you here?"

"You've been out of contact for weeks," Ironwood cut in, "You can't just go dark like that in the field!"

"I'm not one of your special operatives, Jimmy," he stomped his heel forward.

"General." Winter corrected through her teeth.

"Whatever," he looked at Ozpin, "You sent me to get entail on our enemy, and I'm telling you, our enemy is here."

Ironwood leaned back on Ozpin's desk, "We know-"

"Oh! Oh, you _know_!" he yelled, "Well, thank goodness I'm out there risking my life to keep you all informed!"

Ironwood sighed, "Qrow-"

"Communication is a two-way street, pal-"

Ozpin stood up, "She's in custody, Qrow!"

He straightened, "What?"

"Cinder Fall attempted to infect the CCT, and when Ironwood's people spotted unauthorized access to the security network 6 months prior, he contacted everyone _immediately_ and had his people upgrade security in secret," he jabbed his finger at him, "If we had _waited_ for _you_ to decide to come to me, clearly _after_ _bar-hopping all day_ , she would have gotten into the system and caused who knows how much havoc."

"I.."

"Her powers make her the one responsible for Autumn's condition, and not just a pawn," Ozpin sat back down, "A reminder of the evils the rest of the world is thankfully unaware of," he glanced at Ironwood, "And I had hoped it to stay that way. Remain discreet, behind closed doors."

Ironwood sighed, placing his scroll on the desk, "Discreet wasn't working," a hologram of Beacon Academy with the floating colosseum and the Atlesean Fleet flickered on in the center of the room.  
He walked up to it, "This is what is necessary. The people of Vale needed someone to _protect_ them, someone who would _act_."  
"When they look to the skies and see my fleet, they feel safe. And our enemies will feel our strength."

Qrow laughed, "You! You think they're scared of your little ships?"  
"I've been out there and seen the things she's made," he stepped forward, "And, let me tell you, they are fear."

"And fear will bring the Grimm," Ozpin said, "A Guardian brings comfort, but an army? Is the symbol of conflict. There's an energy in the air now, a question in the back of everyone's minds."  
"If _this_ ," he motioned at the hologram, "Is the size of our defenses, what is it we're expecting to fight?"

Ironwood looked at everyone, even Winter, who was a bit out of the loop and worried. He sighed, walking back to the desk and removing his scroll, "So, what would you suggest we do?"

"I suggest we find our Guardian."  
====  
In a dorm, Emerald and Mercury were facing a large peg board, covered in pictures and paper connected together by strings.

"Dust, I wish Cinder was here," Emerald said, looping a red string around a thumb tack pinning a picture of Qrow, "Then we wouldn't have to guess what she would do next."

"Well, maybe if she actually told us the whole plan instead of seemingly pulling these ''steps'' out of her ass and only telling us the vaguest of hints of a plan, we wouldn't be in this situation," Mercury said, looking at his scroll, "I mean, seriously, the point of a virus hack is that it infects a system _subtly_ , then ruins it when it's too late. This stupid thing flashes its ''Black Queen'' symbol every time my scroll gets plugged into anything, you'd have be seriously not paying attention and alone in the room to not notice."

"I'm sure she knew what she was doing," Emerald said.

He rolled his eyes, "Anyway, do any of this fights coming up seem like the ''sabotage point'' she was talking about?"

Emerald looked at the schedule, thinking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And guess who's gotten better at writing?  
> Probably not this guy! :,D


	16. Leasons Learned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Making up lore, don't mind me.

The next day, Weiss and Winter were having some tea in a garden patio area I didn't think Beacon would have.

"You're not staying for the whole tournament?" Weiss asked, as Winter took a sip of her tea.

"I was merely needed to oversee the transport of additional units to Vale, our last shipment was lost to an ambush," she tilted her head a bit, "But Ironwood suddenly requested I stay as long as Penny Polendina is in the ranking, then return to Atlas as soon as she cannot compete any further," she gave a small shrug, "So it's a possibility."

Weiss looked down, disappointed.

Winter reached over and grabbed her hand, "Weiss, you've done.. well. Out here, on your own. You should be proud."

She sat up, smiling, "I'll be honest, it was quite amusing seeing Father's face the day you left for Beacon."

Weiss smiled, crossing her arms, "I can't wait to show him what I've learned."

"Oh?" Winter laced her fingers together, resting her elbows on the table, "And what do you think you've learned?"

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked, confused, "I'm getting better and better with my glyphs, I've even started Time Dilation!"

"And what of your _Summoning?"_

"I.." she sighed, "You know I can't."

"Don't be ridiculous," Winter said, gently, "Every Schnee has the ability to summon. We have for generations."

"I've _tried!_ It's just-" she swung her hands out, "It's the one thing I'm having trouble with! Doing things like you do isn't working!"

After a second of silence, Winter started speaking again, "We Schnees are unique, unlike many, our Semblance is hereditary, but that doesn't mean it all comes easily or even is used the same way."  
====  
Ruby and Blake were in the library, playing World of Remnant again.

"Shouldn't you be hanging out with Qrow?" Blake asked, looking over her cards.

Ruby shrugged, "He's in Holding right now, for 20 days."

Blake sat up.

"Destruction of military property, Ozpin pulled a few strings so now he doesn't have another debt to pay."

_"Another?"_ Blake questioned, "How many debts does he have?"

"All together? Like a million-ish in lien and 49 hours of community service in Atlas, Mistral, and Vale each."

Blake blinked, "And you look up to him?"

She shook her head, "Back when he was teaching me to use a scythe, I thought he was cool, but then.." she looked over her cards, "Turns out, he doesn't like that I follow the Dusts' Embrace like Mom. He tried to convince me that I don't have to worship _''tribal idols''_ like ''those other faunas'' because ''I'm better than that, I'm part human.''"

Blake gave a disgusted, angry look.

"Yeah.." she placed a card face down on the board, "Thankfully, I don't see him too often."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

After a second, Ruby perked up, "Oh, speaking of Dusts' Embrace, any idea how your mom likes her station?"

"Oh, well, I left.. pretty soon after the move, but she seemed to love being in Capra," she smiled, a nostalgic look in her eyes, "Though it doesn't have practically endless forests, pretty cliffside overlooks, or Dust veins on the coasts keeping it a pleasant temperature despite its location."

"So not your cup of tea?"

She shrugged, "I'm not really a beach kind of person, I guess.."

She glanced down for a second, ".. And I missed you guys."

"Well, we missed you, too-"

"I.." she took a breath, "I missed _you,_ Ruby. I thought about you a lot.."

Ruby's cheeks turned a bit pink, "Blake?"

She shook her head, "N-Nevermind, it doesn't matter anymore. We're all together now."  
====  
Back with Weiss and Winter, they were now standing in the middle of the garden area, Weiss had her rapier out and a glyph whirring on the ground.

"Excellent form," Winter praised, "Now think back to a fallen foes, the ones that pushed your limits and made you who you are now. Then watch as they come to your side."

Weiss sneered, tensing her body as the glyph started to flicker and shrink before finally collapsing as she caved, "I can't!"

Winter smacked her hard in the back of her head, "Stop doubting yourself!"

Weiss held her head, "Ow!" she turned to her, _"I'm trying!"_

"If that's what you call ''trying'' then you have no hope of winning the tournament, let alone succeeding as a Huntress," she continued with a sarcastic tone, "Why don't you go back home? I'm sure Father will give you a nice job as a _receptionist."_

"I don't need his charity," Weiss looked away.

"But you do need his money, don't you?"

She looked shocked, "How do you know about that?"

"Lucky guess," Winter smirked a little, "I was in a similar situation when I joined the military," she looked at her, sounding surprisingly pleased, "So what have you done this time?"

"Well, that's the thing," Weiss started as Winter walked around her, "I'm really not sure. I went to pay for lunch recently and my card was declined."

"How _embarrassing,"_ Winter said, condescending.

"I know!" Weiss said.

Winter shook her head.

"Well it _was!_ Why would he cut me off like that?"

"Perhaps so you'd stop avoiding him and call home."

Weiss sneered, that jumped into a fighting stance, Myrtenaster pointed down, and a glyph flared to life on the floor.

Winter stepped closer and grabbed her shoulder, "Emotions can grant strength, but you must never let them over power you."

Weiss looked at her, the glyph shrunk.

"It sounds to me like two choices laid out in front of you. Either you call him, beg for his money back and explain once more why you want to study at Beacon over Atlas."  
"Or.." she continued, seeing Weiss's disappointed look, "You could continue to explore Remnant, discovering more about the world, and honestly.." she looked worried, "More about _yourself_.."

Weiss smiled, giving a small nod.

Suddenly a faint buzzer sounded, shorty followed by Weiss's scroll. She opened her scroll, then looked at Winter.  
She nodded.

Weiss tapped the screen, "Hey, Velvet."

{Hey, sorry to interrupt you two, but we're the next fight. You know how Oobleck is.}

"Oh, thank you!"

"Go on ahead," Winter said before turning towards their table, "I'll take the tea set back to the kitchen."  
====  
Velvet and Weiss stood in the Arena.

"So, any idea what to expect?" Velvet asked, stretching her legs a bit.

"Well, seeing as Atlas's Kingdom, School, and Military are all merged as one, I think we can expect strict militant fighters with advanced technology and carefully rehearsed strate-"

Suddenly a loud rainbow streak flew behind them on the edge of the Arena, before slowing on the other side next to a guy in an untucked shirt, black vest with an loose cyan tie and a black fedora, holding a trumpet.  
The source of the rainbow was a cat Faunas girl in pink rollerblades, knee socks, black shorts under a pink skirt, a light blue sleeveless crop top, her ginger hair in two frizzy ponytails, and the appropriate guards on her knees and elbows. She twirled her nunchucks as she came to a stop.

"Or.. whatever they are?" Weiss said, confused.

"Hey, you're Weiss Schnee," the trumpeter called, "The _heiress."_

"I am," she bowed slightly, smiling.

"I take it you're pretty good with Dust then."

"I do my best," she said, rolling her eyes with a smirk.

"Yeah, my dad was good with it, too. Had a little Dust shop of his own," he glared, "Til your Father's company ran him out of business."

"Oh, I'm sorry.."

He rolled his eyes, "Yeah, _sure you are."_

Velvet stepped forward, "What does that have to-"

"Wot doez that hav to- That's what you sound like," the girl interrupted.

"Uh..?"

"Hey, why do you sound like _that?_ You trying to attract attention?"

"No, I'm from central Vacuo-"

"Oh, Vacuan and a rabbit? You must be real loose!" she continued, rolling back a bit.

"Excuse me??"

The forcefield displayed several icons, showing the terrain. 1/4th for magma, hot spring, a desert, and the ruins of a city each.

{3.. 2..}

The trumpet guy took a deep breath as his partner got ready to roll. Velvet and Weiss looked at each other as they got in stance as well.

{1! Begin!}

He blew into his trumpet and a loud wave of sound blasted from the end. Weiss summoned a glyph at her feet and knelt down as the rollerblader skating into the wave, sending herself fast into Velvet, knocking her into the ruins.

He lowered his instrument and Weiss stood. She ran for him, quickly summoning more gravity glyphs under her as he blew out short wave. He suddenly dropped in again and she charged, he sidestepped at the last second and kicked her in the back. She went tumbling into  a large crystal of Fire Dust.

Meanwhile Velvet was following the rainbow girl through the ruins.

"Never miss a beat, never miss a beat," she mumbled to herself as she skated down a tilted wall.  
She turned, smashing into Velvet's side, several times' before cracking her nunchucks, making them glow and charging for her again.

Velvet moved to punch her, but she dodged and hit her in the leg, freezing it to the ground.

She giggled, "I bet you're used to that, being Schnee's little play toy~"

Velvet sneered.

Back with Weiss, she summoned four glyphs in the air and fired large icicles at the jazz player.

He grinned as he felt the ground rumble under him, he held up his trumpet a blew another wave as a pillar of fire flew threw it, shooting it at Weiss, melting the ice.  
He straightened, twirling his instrument, "Too bad all that money can't buy you skill."

She stomped forward, turning the revolver in her sword to gray and fired a whirlwind at him. He blew another soundwave to block it.  
At the same time, Weiss summoned a ring of glyphs around them then fired more icicles at him, knocking him around.

Once he got his bearings again, he took a wider stance and blew hard into his trumpet, and suddenly three more copies of him ghosted out of him, copying him. This made the soundwave stronger and blasted Weiss back before she could react.

{It seems Mr. Coal has finally used his semblance,} Glynda said.

{Yes. Killer Quartet. Young Flint's semblance is remarkable!} Oobleck responded, pushing his glasses back.

Flint looked at the monitor, seeing Weiss's low Aura, he grinned, stepping forward as his copies merged back into him.

Returning to Velvet, she was still chasing the cat girl.

"Wow, you have a lot of stamina," she remarked, seeing that Velvet wasn't tired, "I bet boys love paying you to use it!"

"Shut up! Just _shut up!"_ Velvet shouted, as they ran towards the center of the Arena.

Flint stepped up to Weiss as she got up, on her rapier as she reached for it.

Suddenly, he noticed his partner rolling around a frustrated Velvet.

"Hey, I'm not _shaming_ you for being like that," she said, "I'm just _saying!"_

_"I'm not!"_ Velvet shouted.

Flint turned to them and summoned his quartet again. Weiss looked at the ground as it rumbled, then jumped up and knocked him and herself into a pillar of magma.  
And a loud buzzer went off, blocking any screaming they could've done.

Velvet turned, "Weiss?"

Ren and Nora stood up from their seats in the audience, shocked.

Flint stumbled out of the smoke.

{Weiss's Aura has been completely depleted and Flint is still in the fight!} Oobleck announced.

The cat girl skated over to him as he got balanced, "You did it, Flint!"

He grinned, cocky, "I guess money doesn't buy smarts either!"

Velvet grit her teeth, clenching her fists hard enough her knuckled cracked.

"Yo, Neon, go!" Flint called.

She charged forward as he played another wave. A flash of blue shined on Velvet's feet just as she stomped one into the pavement.

The sound wave pushed Neon faster. Velvet kicked her square in the gut, revealing the hard light cleat soles she summoned, knocking the wind out of her as the soundwave dug the spikes deeper.

Velvet grabbed her nunchucks as Flint stopped playing, and Neon fell, coughing.  
She walked forward, pulling hard on the nunchucks.

Neon scrambled, "H-Hey, I was just teasing! No reason to get so bent out of-"

Velvet the chain snapped and she charged at Flint. He quickly played another wave but Velvet marched right through it, the spikes digging into the ground.  
He pulled back from his trumpet to catch his breath and Velvet slammed half the nunchuck into his mouth, the force triggering the Dust to burst, encasing the lower half of his face in ice. The buzzer sounded.  
She turned to Neon as she stood on her skates. Velvet yanked Flint's trumpet and blew as hard as she could, blasting a loud shriek of a soundwave, sending Neon flying into the rocky terrain.

The cat girl fumbled through the rocks, panickily chanting, "Never miss a beat, never miss a beat."  
She hit a rock that caught her skates and she flew forward, into a geyser that sent her into the air.  
Once she crashed into the rocks, the buzzer went off.

"Weiss!" Velvet dropped the trumpet and hurried towards Weiss, who was covered in soot. She dropped to her knees and helped her sit up, "Weiss! Are you okay? Do we need to get you to the ward?"

Weiss coughed up some ash, then smiled weakly at her, "I may not be singing for awhile.."

Velvet hugged her tight, "Don't ever sacrifice yourself like that again! You could've gotten seriously hurt!"

"WHAT!? We lost!" Neon shouted, her colors grayed, "Team Funky(FNKI) lost!?" she looked like she was about to cry, "That was-That was-" she immediately regained all her colors, smiling wide, "AMAZING!!"  
"Oh my gosh, you guys were super crazy awesome! We should definitely party together sometime!" she turned to Flint as he picked up his trumpet.

"That was a gutsy move, Schnee," he said, then after a short silence, she smiled, "I dig it."

Ren and Nora ran up to them from somewhere and knelt next to her.  
"That was crazy, guys!" Nora said.  
====  
Later, in Emerald and Mercury's dorm, Emerald was still looping threads around tacks.

"You _still_ on that?" Mercury asked while doing push ups, "Really?"

"Well, she said to keep going with the plan! I'm trying to figure out what it was!" Emerald sighed, looking over the Tournament schedule.  
After a moment of thought, she circled a few parts of it and tacked it to the board then sighed, "Hopefully this works."  
====  
Ozpin sat in his office chair, looking out the giant window behind his desk.

The elevator door opened and Qrow stepped out with two Knights, his hands still cuffed. He walked up to the desk, "You know he's making you look like a fool.."

"His heart is in the right place," Ozpin said, "He's just.. _misguided."_

"Sometimes I'm not even sure if he has a heart."

"And a lot of the time I wonder how many livers you have."

Qrow sighed, "Anyway, have you chosen your Guardian yet?"

Ozpin turned his chair to face Qrow, "Maidens _choose themselves_ , I simply believe I've found the right candidate. Ever since the day I met her, I had a feeling she would be the one."  
"She's strong, intelligent, caring, but most importantly she's ready."

"So _you did choose,_ you could've just said yes instead of acting like this is natural."

Suddenly, the elevator opened again and Pyrrha stepped into the room, "You called for me, Professor?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :^)


	17. Destiny

Qrow was leaning against one of the columns, watching the conversation.

Ozpin chuckled, "And it honestly wouldn't surprise me if your team chooses you to continue to the final rounds of the tournament. Your performance has been exemplary."

"Thank you, Professor Ozpin, but I never would have made it this far without my teammates," Pyrrha admitted.

"Personally, I think it's the other way around," Qrow said.

Pyrrha looked back at him, "I'm sorry?" she got up and faced him, "I don't think we've been properly introduced."

"The name's Qrow-"  
Pyrrha clenched her fist and one of the Knights swung out their arm, smashing Qrow in the face.  
"AH BITCH!" Qrow cried, falling over.

"Oh dear."

"Ah.. Qrow is a colleague of mine."

"Oz, help, I can't get up!" Qrow said, squirming on the floor.

Pyrrha turned back to Ozpin, "Professor, if you don't mind me asking, why did you call me here?"

"Please, return to your seat," Ozpin said.

She sat back down.

"Ptu, shit, that was a tooth," Qrow cried out to himself.

Ozpin leaned back in his chair, "What is your favorite fairytale?"

"I'm... sorry?" she tilted her head a bit.

"Fairytales. Stories from your childhood," he motioned out to her, "Surely you must remember some of them?"

After a moment of absolute confusion, Pyrrha spoke up, "Well.. There's The Tale of the Two Brothers.. The Shallow Sea."

"Those aren't fairytales, those are religious text and an actual place."

"Ah.. Well, there's the Girl in the Tower-"

"What about the Story of the Seasons?"

Pyrrha smiled, "Oh of course, _a callous old man refuses to leave his home and is visited by four traveling sisters."_

_"The first understands his reclusive nature and urges him to use his time in solitude to reflect and meditate. The second brings him fruits and flowers, tending to his crops and revitalizing his garden. The third warms the man's heart, convincing him to step outside and embrace the world around him. And the fourth and final sister begs him to look at all that he has and be thankful."_

_"And in return for their kindness, the man grants the maidens incredible powers so they may continue to help others all over the world. They graciously accept and promise to share their gifts with the people of Remnant until the end of days. Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. The four maidens.._ My mother loved to read me that story when I was little."

"Would you believe me if I told you that that one's been around since I was a boy?"

Pyrrha laughed, "You're not that old, Professor."

"Well.. Would you believe me if I told you it was true?" he asked, suddenly serious.

"Oh god, I'm bleeding," Qrow mumbled.

She gave an awkward laugh, "I.. beg your pardon?"

"What if I were to tell you there were four maidens existing in this world? That could wield such tremendous power?" he leaned forward a bit, "Without Dust?"

"You mean, like a Semblance?" Pyrrha asked, confused and concerned.

"Like magic."

"I.." she looked at him, "You're serious?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?"

After a brief silence, Pyrrha answered, "No.." she took a nervous breath, "Why.. Why are you telling me this?"

He looked down at his hands for a moment, then back at her, "I'm telling you, Pyrrha Nikos, because we believe that you are next in line to receive the Fall Maiden's powers."

Pyrrha looked understandably shocked, then confused again, "We?"

And, again, the elevator opened to reveal Glynda and Ironwood.

"Sorry, we're late," Ironwood said, straightening his tie.

"Guys, help me, I think my nose is broken," Qrow cried.

"Wait," Pyrrha said, scared, "What is this?"

She glared a bit, "Who are you?"

"You know who we are," Glynda said, in a soft tone that does not help at all.

Ironwood pulled Qrow up to his feet.

"We're still the same teachers and headmasters you met when you first arrived at Beacon."

"We just, ah, have a part-time job," Qrow said, while Ironwood gently cleaned off his red nose.

"We are the protectors of this world," Ironwood said.

"And we need your help," Ozpin finished.  
====  
Everyone stood in the elevator, except now it's really dark for no real reason??

Pyrrha stood between everyone, clearly uncomfortable and scared.

She held her arms, looking at everyone, "Where are we going?"

"The Vault," Ozpin answered, "Under the school."

After a few more minutes of uncomfortable silence, the elevator stopped and opened into an unnecessarily giant room. It was mostly empty save for the machinery in the very back and the green torchlights that gave the room and everyone in it a sickly glow.

Pyrrha followed far behind everyone else, which caught Glynda's attention. The teacher stopped so they could talk.

"I'm sure you must have questions," she said, concerned."

"Maybe one or two.." Pyrrha said, her voice a little shaky.

"I still don't understand," she continued, following a bit closer, "You said I was next in line to receive the Maiden's power, what do you mean by that?"

"The Maidens have existed for thousands of years, but much like in nature, the seasons change, no two summers are alike," Glynda explained, "When a Maiden dies, her powers leave her body and it seeks out a new host, ensuring that the seasons are never lost and that no individual can hold on to the power forever."

"So.. how does that power choose?"

"Through a series of stupid and convoluted rules," Qrow snapped.

"Qrow," Glynda sneered.

"Hey, don't get mad because I'm right."

"... At first, the only thing that was certain was that the powers were specifically sent to young women," Glynda looked at Pyrrha, "But as time went on it was discovered that the selection process was much more.. intimate."

"I-In.. timate..?" Pyrrha repeated, now really concerned.

"As we understand it now, when a Maiden dies, the one who is in her final thoughts is the first candidate to inherit her power."

"Unless it's a dude, or some old hag," Qrow added, "Then the power goes to someone random. Which makes our jobs a lot harder."

"Why tell me all of this now?" Pyrrha asked, "Why not wait until I've graduated?"

"Honestly? We've run out of time. I don't know if you've noticed, but things are getting a lot scarier out in the world. Tensions are high, the Grimm are growing stronger, more prevalent, and it's not going to be much longer until this peace we've all been enjoying so much goes out the window."

"You're not talking about war?" Pyrrha asked.

"Not a war between nations," Ironwood answered.

"We can fill you in on the details once we know you're with us," Qrow said, looking back at her, "For now, all you need to know is that one of the Maiden's was attacked and for the first time in history, part of her power was stolen."

They stopped at the machine, a scarred woman in her undergarments laid in a pod, with an empty pod parallel to it and a computer between them.

Pyrrha looked at the woman, "Is that..?"

Ozpin sighed, "The current Fall Maiden, Amber."

"She's.. still alive.." Pyrrha said, scared.

"For now," Ironwood said, making Pyrrha step back, "We're using state of the art technology to keep her stable, but there is a lot about this situation that is.. unprecedented."

"What do you mean?"

He sighed, "Well, we don't know what will happen when she passes."

"Won't her powers just.. transfer to the next host?"

"Well, look who's been listening!" Qrow shouted, startling her, he looked at Ozpin, "She is smart."

"Under normal circumstances, yes," Ironwood nodded, "But this is a delicate situation, it's not uncommon for their last thoughts to be of who slain them. And to make matters worse, nobody has seen the powers split like this, for all we know it may seek out it's other half."

"Her assailant.."

"And that would not bode well for any of us," Ozpin said, turning to her.

She looked down, then back up as she stepped up to Amber's pod and touched the glass, "If all of this is true, then why keep it secret!? If this girl is so important.. If-If we're truly on the brink of war, why not tell everyone!?"

Glynda stepped forward, "From what we understand, it used to be common knowledge."

"Excuse me?"

"How do you think legends and fairytales get started?" Qrow asked, "Even the craziest ones come from somewhere."

"Are group was founded in order to protect both mankind and the Maidens," Glynda said, clenching a fist, "those with power hunted them down hoping to inherit their strength."

"And as you can imagine, the one's that succeeded weren't exactly the kind of people you'd want to have unimaginable power."

"And so this Brotherhood chose to remove the Maidens from the public eye, allowing their existence to fade away into legend," Ironwood continued.

"The things we're telling you go against hundreds of years of human history, religion," Glynda added.

"No one would want to believe us," he said, "It would cause an uproar."

"It would cause panic," Ozpin shot in, "And we all know what that would bring onto our kingdoms' walls."

"Which is why we would like to-"

"I'll do it," Pyrrha said, surprising him, "If you believe this will help the world, then I will become your Fall Maiden."

They all looked at each other.

Pyrrha looked confused, "That's what you wanted, isn't it?"

Ozpin shook his head, "It is! But I'm afraid it's not that simple, given Amber's condition, you won't be able to inherit her power naturally. However," he motioned to Ironwood, "General Ironwood believes he has a solution."

"For the past few years, Atlas has been studying Aura from a more scientific standpoint. How it works, what it's made of, how it could be used. We've made.. significant strides." "And we believe we've found a way to capture it."

"Capture it?" Qrow responded, "He means cram it into something else."

"Or in your case..."

Pyrrha tensed, "That's-"

"Classified," Ironwood interrupted.

"Wrong!"

"The feeling is mutual," Glynda said, "But desperate times call for desperate measures."

"And these are indeed desperate times," he said, stepping forward, "We can't transfer Amber's power to you, but we can give you what those powers are bound to."

"Her Aura.."

"Her life," Ozpin started, "Would become intertwined with yours.. The question is.."  
"What's that going to do to you?" Qrow finished.

Pyrrha looked down again.

"You have a very important decision before you, Ms. Nikos," Ozpin shook his head, "There's no guaranty this transfer will work, and there's no telling if you will be the same person if it does."

"I advise you to take some time to think on this matter. But understand that before the Vytal Festival is over, we will need your answer."

Pyrrha turned to Amber once more.

"The assailant that attacked her may be in custody now, but there is no telling how many people she has working with her, if any. And until we have an active Fall Maiden we can't take her out."  
====  
Pyrrha sat against the wall outside the cafeteria, staring down at nothing in particular.

A breeze brushed through the nearby trees, freeing an orange leaf which fell carefully to the ground by her feet.  
She glanced at it, her mind refilling with worry, about everything.

"Hey," someone called, snapping her out of it.

She looked up to see Ruby, carrying a small box of candy and a drink. Pyrrha looked back down a bit.

"I know you don't really eat candy that often," Ruby started, looking at the box for a second, "But I saw this box of Snowfalls at one of the stands and thought you might like it!"  
Ruby held out the box.

"Um, right," Pyrrha awkwardly responded, taking the box, "Thank you, Ruby.."

Ruby looked worried, seeing her stare at the box so sadly. She sat down next to her, "Is everything okay, Pyrrha?"

She shook her head, smiling, "It's nothing. I'm fine."

"I can tell something's on your mind," Ruby said, worried.

She took her hand, gently, "I know sometimes just talking about things can help."  
"Or maybe there's something I could do to help?"

Pyrrha glanced at Ruby's hand over her own, and gave a smaller but more genuine smile, turning her hand to lace her fingers between Ruby's, "You're already doing it.."

Ruby's eyes went wide a bit, her tail wagging hard enough to make hits on the ground. Another leaf fell, brushing into the first between them.

But Pyrrha's smile quickly turned to confliction again and she pulled back her hand, "Ruby.. I don't know what to do."

"W-What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

Pyrrha looked up, then back at Ruby, "Do you believe in destiny?"

"N.. Not really? What do you mean by that?"

"When I think of destiny, I don't think of a predetermined fate you can't escaped," another breeze whisked away the leaves, "but rather some sort of final goal. Something you worked towards your entire life."

"Oh, well.. That doesn't really.. sound like destiny," Ruby said, "More like a dream? A wish."

"Really?"

"Yeah, like, I dream about being a Hunter one day and have worked towards that for as long as I can remember," Ruby said, her hands out, "But that's my choice, you know?"  
"If I wanted, I could just stop."

"Well, what would you do if something came along that you never expected, something that had the potential to stand between you and your dream?"

"Like-"

"Or what if you could suddenly fulfill your dream in an instant, but at the cost of who you were!?" Pyrrha shouted, scared.

Ruby shook her head, "I wouldn't do it."

Pyrrha looked surprised.

"We're just first-years, Pyrrha. You can't just skip ahead to greatness, no matter who offered that to you. So..." she shrugged, "maybe leave the greatness to Adult Pyrrha. You'll be great, even without this mysterious boost."

There was a bit of a silence between them.

Then Pyrrha laughed a little, "Maybe you're right."  
She looked back at the box, "... So ''Snowfalls?''"  
====  
That night, Ironwood walked through the Holding Cells on one of the giant Atlesean ships, several soldiers marching behind him before splitting off into separate halls.

A patrolling guard noticed him and stopped, "Sir..?"

He glanced at him, "Carry on, soldier."

The guard stepped back, then turned away to march off a little quicker. He turned a corner and found another soldier.

"Hey, was the General scheduled to visit tonight?"

"No..? Why?" the second man asked.

"You didn't see him walk by just now?"

"Just some guards leading another prisoner to her cell."

They both turned to the hall just as an explosion burst through.

"Shit!"

The two rushed for the main deck as gunshots fired behind them. A shot hit one in the back just as they reached the door, making him fall with a pained yell.  
It slid open and the two scrambled in.

"Sir! We've been breached! We need to-"

The unharmed soldier looked over the deck, several men were dead on the ground and some of the prisoners were looting their armor off them.

A tall man with messy red hair and black horns was knelt next to one, a painted White Fang mask on the floor at his feet, he had an Atlesean helmet in his hands.

"Damn, these bastards really don't have any Faunas in their ranks," he glanced at a man with black stripes on his face, "Warren, put this on."  
Once the helmet was out of his hands, he picked the mask up and put it on his face.  
He turned, noticing the men just as the door opened again, "Today just isn't your day."

Before either could respond, two black arrows pierced their helmets and they fell.

Cinder, looking a bit grungy, walked out the door and over the bodies, with Emerald following a safe distance behind.  
"Well, you've certainly made quick work of the place, but I hope you can make for convincing soldiers."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mixing the events up now 
> 
> (/*o*)/ Whoo!


End file.
